Dangers and 
Chemistry of Fire 

FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS 

By State Fire Marshal of Ohio 

JOHN W. ZUBER, State Fire Marshal 









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Dangers 


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Chemistry of Fire 


PREPARED BY THE 

State Fire Marshal of Ohio 








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Columbus, O.: 

The F. J. Heer Printing Co. 

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THE REED LAW. 


The sections of the Reed Law which refer to the instruction of 
school children in fire dangers provide: 

Section i. It shall be the duty of the principal or other person 
in charge of every public or private school or educational institution 
within the state, having an average daily attendance of fifty or more 
pupils, to instruct and train the pupils by means of drills, so that they 
may in sudden emergency be able to leave the school building in the 
shortest possible time and without confusion or panic. Such drills or 
rapid dismissals shall be held at least once for each month when said 
schools are in session and all doors of exit shall be kept unlocked during 
school hours. 

That every teacher or. instructor in every public, private or pa¬ 
rochial school shall devote not less than thirty minutes in each month 
during which the school is in session, to instruction of pupils between 
the ages of six and fourteen years, in fire dangers. 

For the purpose of such instruction it shall be the duty of the state 
fire marshal to prepare a book conveniently arranged in chapters, or les¬ 
sons, such chapters or lessons to be in number sufficient to provide a 
different chapter or lesson for each week of the maximum school year, 
one of such lessons to be read by the teachers in such schools each week. 
The books shall be published at the expense of the state under the di¬ 
rection of the state school commissioner and shall be distributed in quan¬ 
tities sufficient to provide a copy for each teacher required by the pro¬ 
fusions of this act to give the instruction herein provided for; the dis¬ 
tribution to be made by the state school commissioner. 

Section 2, Willful neglect by any principal or other person in 
charge of any public off private school or educational institution to com¬ 
ply with the provision of this act, shall be a misdemeanor, punishable, 
each offense, by a fine of not more than twenty nor less than five dollars. 

In compliance the State Fire Marshal submits forty lessons. 

Will you please, after having used some of the lessons, write the 
State Fire Marshal answering the following questions: 

Is the method of presentation good? 

Are the lessons couched in language simple enough to dapt them 
to children of the ages for which they are intended? 

Do the lessons awaken interest? 

Do the children appreciate the points? 

What suggestions, in general, can you offer to make more effective 
the attempt of the department to instruct the school children of Ohio in 
this most important subject? 

John W. Zuber, 

State Fire * Marshal, 

Columbus, Ohio. 


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LESSON NO. i. 


Carelessness With Matches; 

BURNS BUILDINGS AND CHILDREN. 

Every year thirty children are burned to death, in Ohio, and more 
than 500 buildings are burned because people use matches carelessly. 

The matches we have are much nicer and cheaper than those used a 
few years ago. Our grandfathers had for matches pine blocks one inch 
square and one and a half inches long. The blocks were split part 
way down, so that a splinter could be pulled off. The loose end of the 
splinters had been dipped in a mixture with sulphur in it. When these 
matches were struck they had the bad, choking smell of burning sulphur. 
They were called “Lucifer” matches. Can you tell why they were 
given that name? The match we use was called the “parlor match,” 
because it was fit for use when there was “company” in the parlor. 

KEEPING FIRE. 

Our grandfathers’ grandfathers had no matches. They kept fire 
from day to day and week to week in the open fireplace by covering 
live coals or brands with ashes. If the coals died, as they sometimes 
did, the children were sent to a neighbor’s to get some. If there was 
no neighbor near the father would spread some flaxen tow on the 
hearth and pour a little powder over it from his hunter’s horn. Then 
he would take a piece of flint and strike it with a piece of steel, while 
holding both over the tow. Sparks would fly from the flint, the powder 
would flash and light the tow. The flint commonly used was an In¬ 
dian arrowhead. 

THE PARLOR MATCH. 

We must be careful when we use parlor matches. When they are 
scratched, the heads often explode, or the sticks break and flaming 
pieces fly. These often set fire to waste paper, sweepings, lace curtains, 
and people’s clothing. Careless persons throw matches down, after 
using them, without looking to see if they are still glowing. If match 
sticks are burned through they will sometimes remain red hot for as 
long as a minute. These red hot match sticks are thrown on waste 
stuff and they cause a large part of the fires. 

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6 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 


WICKED CARELESSNESS. 


It is wicked carelessness to leave matches lying about because 
they are so easily lighted. The sun’s rays coming through a bubble 
in the window glass, a fish globe, a water bottle, a round paper weight, 
or grandma’s spectacles will light the match they shine upon. If matches 
are loose in drawers, or on desks, they may take fire from something 
hitting or rubbing them. The heat from a stove or grate may light 
them, if they are left on the mantel. They may be brushed off a shelf 
or mantel, and be stepped upon, and lighted. 

WHERE MATCH FIRES START. 

Nearly all of the match fires start in the cellar ; but never a week 
passes, in Ohio, without a house being burned by some careless person 
who lights a match to hunt for something in a closet. A number of 
women have been burned to death by stepping upon and lighting 
matches. The wife of the poet, Henry W. Longfellow, was burned to 
death by a lighted match which she let fall upon the floor. It set fire 
to her thin summer dress. That was long ago, and many people have 
been burned to death since then, in the same way. We cannot be too 
careful. 


THE HEAD OF THE MATCH. 

The head of the match is made of phosphorus, chlorate or potash, 
rosin, whiting and powdered flint, held together by glue. The rubbing 
of the flint makes enough heat to fire the phosphorus; the chlorate lets 
go of the oxygen in it with an explosion and great heat. This heat 
fires the rosin, and then the paraffin in which the match stick was 
soaked takes fire and the stick itself begins to burn. If either salt¬ 
peter or sulphur is used in place of chlorate of potash a silent and slow 
match is made which does ,not snap and fly. When the chlorate, or 
“parlor match” is stepped upon it sounds its own fire-alann—this is 
the only good thing about it. 

THE bird’s EYE MATCH. 

A new kind of match, called the “bird’s eye,” or double tipped, is 
now made in all the match factories. It is kept in many groceries. 
There is less danger in using this new match than there is in using the 
parlor match. Fires, caused by carelessness in the use of parlor matches, 
destroy millions of dollars’ worth of property in the United States 
every year, and hundreds of lives are lost. 


FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


7 


HOW ARE THE HEADS OF BIRD’S EYE MATCHES MADE ? 

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The ends of the sticks are dipped into a mixture that has no phos¬ 
phorus in it. After drying they are dipped just a little way into a mix 
ture of a different color. This mixture has phosphorus in it. You 
remember that phosphorus was used in making the head of the “parlor 
match;” phosphorus burns easily, and if the bird’s eye matches are 
struck lightly on the tip they will burn, but they will not snap and fly 
to pieces, as the parlor matches do. Pieces of flying parlor match heads 
burned to death, in one week, two Ohio women and two babies. 

When bird’s eye matches are rubbed by things that are moved over 
them, they do not light, because the very middle of the match head, the 
“eye,” is not touched. When the eye is lightly rubbed the match lights 
and you do not have to scratch it hard enough to knock the head off, 
or break the match stick. Of course it will burn when it is crushed, t 
the same as the parlor match. It is more likely to light from a bump 
on its eye than is the parlor match. 

Many houses are burned and many lives are lost in a year, in Ohio, 
by the careless use of matches. Do not carry matches in your pockets. 

Note — The paragraph giving the composition of parlor match heads may 
be omitted, if it seems too difficult for the comprehension of children. 

There being more lessons provided than there are weeks in the school year, 
the rural teacher will be able to omit lessons on dangers peculiar to cities and 


vice versa. 


LESSON NO. 2. 

The Safety Match 

THE MATCH MACHINES ARE MADE IN OHIO. 

The “safety” match can be lighted only on the box in which it is 
sold. It is the only match for sale which is safe to have in a house. It 
is made of the same wood, and with the same machinery as the parlor 
match; but the mixture into which.it is dipped, to make the head, has 
no phosporus in it. The phosphorus is in the mixture which is spread 
upon the box. 

BUBBED ON THE BOX. 

When the “safety” match is rubbed upon the box, it lights; but it 
will not light unless it is rubbed over the phosphorus mixture on the 
box. When the mother rat takes these safety matches home for her 
babies to play with, or for the father rat to use in filing down his eye 
teeth, there is no danger of the house burning down. 

SOAKING THE STICK. 

The sticks of all safety matches are soaked in some fluid which pre¬ 
vents any red-hot coal being left after the match is lighted and used. 
All other matches leave a red-hot coal, which may set fire to any thing 
upon which they are thrown. 

Some square matches are made in Sweden, of wood from the fir or 
aspen tree; some are made of bass and cottonwood. All of these hold 
a red-hot coal much longer than pine. That makes them more dangerous 
unless they have been dipped into the fluid into which safety matches 
are dipped. All round match sticks are made of pine from the North¬ 
west, or from New York and Pennsylvania. 



WIND MATCHES. 


Smokers often use a kind of match which will light outdoors, in a 
wind. The heads of these matches splutters a great deal, and make a 
bad, choking smell. The smoker wishes to get rid of such matches as 
soon as he can, after using them, and so he throws them away, while 
still flaming. The match does not go out, even when thrown against a 
wall twenty feet away. This makes it a very dangerous match to use. 

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FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


9 


When the flame dies down, a red-hot coal is left, and this will set fire 
to any dry stuff it falls upon. 

AMERICAN MATCH MAKERS. 

The American “parlor match” is used by people of Great Britain, 
South America and South Africa, although many in those countries have 
been burned to death while using it. 

The machine which makes parlor matches was patented in Ohio. 
It is not made in any other state. It costs only one cent to make a hun¬ 
dred parlor matches with this machine. 

The 80 million people in America use as many matches as the 800 
million in the rest of the world. 

A machine makes from four to seven million matches a day. It 
costs no more to make safety matches than it does to make the common 
parlor matches. There should be a law that would stop the use of any 
but safety matches. 


LESSON NO. 3- 


Death from Playing with Matches. 

FIRE-PROOFING MUSLINS. 

Thirty-six women and children were burned to death, in Ohio, in 
1907, by having their clothing set afire by matches. The thirty little 
children played with matches which had been left lying about, and the 
six women had their clothing set afire by glowing match sticks, or flying 
match heads. 

Besides these, there were five mothers who died while trying to 
save the lives of their burning children. 

Children playing with matches set afire 118 buildings which it will 
take a great deal of hard work to rebuild. 

Parlor matches burn to death between 800 and 900 people each 
year, in the United States. Every year at least 100 children in Ohio are 
badly burned by these dangerous playthings, these “parlor matches.” 

TYPICAL STORIES OF DEATHS. 

The newspapers tell of many people who are burned to death by 
the careless use of matches. Among other stories they tell of Alice 
Heffron, who tried to light the gasolene stove, and the head of the 
match flew off and set fire to a cotton cloth. The cotton cloth was on 
the back of the chair where Alice was sitting. Her dress caught fire 
and she died after suffering terribly. 

“Charlie Reel, the four-year-old son of Charles Reel, died Satur¬ 
day morning from burns. The little fellow’s clothing was flaming when 
they found him. Just before he died, he said: 'Mamma, I don’t want 
any more matches.’ ” 

One woman was burned to death by a match head, which snapped 
off and set her cotton clothing ablaze. She. had struck the match on 
the sole of her shoe, a dangerous thing to do. 

COTTON CLOTHING. 

Clothing made of cotton, such as muslin, calico, flannelette, is very 
easily set afire. In Ohio 125 died in one year from having their cotton 
clothing burned. 

Each grate, fireplace, and open stove should have in front of it a 
wire screen, such as parents use to keep the babies from falling into 

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FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


11 


the fire. Every fire makes an upward current of air in a room, and this 
current will draw any light stuff which comes near it into the flame. 
Often children’s dresses or aprons are drawn into the flame and the 
children are burned. 

Dresses and aprons that touch a red-hot stove will blaze. It isn’t 
necessary for a stove to be kept red-hot in order to cook and heat well. 

Parents should refuse to buy any cotton goods that have not been 
made fire-proof. By “fire-proof” we mean cotton goods that have be'en 
dipped in something that will keep them from burning. 

Thirty years ago the chemist in Bellevue Hospital Medical College 
lost his only little boy; his dress took fire from a grate. The chemist 
worked a long time to find something that would make cotton cloth 
fire-proof. He found that if he soaked the cloth in water having phos¬ 
phate of ammonia dissolved in it, the goods would not burn. They would 
only char where the flame touched them. This chemist spent years in 
writing and lecturing about fire-proof clothes, but those who made the 
cotton cloths would not heed him. If the mothers of Ohio would say 
that cotton cloths must be made fire-proof, the men who weave the cloths 
would have to make them fire-proof. 

TO SAVE LIVES. 

A mother can make clothes fire-proof after they are ready to wear. 
She can dip them in a mixture of ammonium sulphate (eight parts by 
weight), ammonium carbonate (two and a half parts), borax (two 
parts), boracic acid (three parts), starch (two parts), and water (ioo 
parts). This has been used in Germany for a long time. 

The United States Consul at Nottingham, England, has told the 
United States government that the dyers who met at Manchester, Eng¬ 
land, claimed that clothing soaked in titanic acid would not blaze. It 
would smoulder, but not burst into flame. 

Boiling does not remove the chemicals, and it costs only one-seventh 
of a cent a yard to make cotton cloth fire-proof. 


LESSON NO. 4 


The Coal Oil or Kerosene Lamp. 

THE CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 

Lamps explode and careless people break them. That is why so 
many little children are badly burned, and some are burned to death. 
When a lamp explodes, or is broken, burning oil is thrown over all the 
people who are near it, and their clothing begins to burn upon their 
bodies. 

Kerosene, or coal oil, as it is often called, comes from petroleum oil. 
Petroleum oil is pumped from very deep holes in the ground. It is 
found in some parts of Ohio, and in other states of our country. 

This oil is black, like tar, when it comes from the ground. It is 
cooked in a place that is called a petroleum refinery. When it is cooked 
it changes to steam, or vapor. The first vapor that rises is cooled by 
passing through pipes under water, and it is then called gasolene. The 
vapor that comes from the petroleum, after the gasolene is taken away, 
is called coal oil, or kerosene. They get three quarts of kerosene from 
four quarts of petroleum after the gasolene and coal oil are taken out 
of the petroleum, what is left is made Into paraffin, vaseline, and 
123 other things which can be sold. 

The natural gas now used in 76 towns in Ohio is this same vapor 
of petroleum, which comes from deep wells. 

THE COAL OIL LAMP. 

While the lamp burns, the oil slowly disappears. It is such a thin 
oil that it is drawn quickly to the top of the lamp-wick. There it waits 
until the match flame touches it. The oil is made of atoms of carbon 
and hydrogen, loosely fastened together. The match flame is like a 
fairy’s wand; when it touches the wick the oil separates into the two 
things of which it is made. These atoms of carbon and hydrogen are 
anxious to get all the oxygen they can out of the air in the room. (Oxy¬ 
gen is the very life of the air; we all need oxygen to keep us alive, and 
that is why we 'should have plenty of clean, pure air to breathe.) Be¬ 
fore the flame loosened the atoms, they could not join themselves to the 
oxygen but when they are free, each of the greedy little atoms of carbon 
seizes two atoms of oxygen, and they-form carbonic acid. Each pair of 
hydrogen atoms takes one atom of oxygen, and they form water. The 

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FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


13 


carbonic acid is a gas, and the water is in the form of vapor. They are 
carried out of the top of the chimney. The next time you see a lamp 
burning, try to remember just what is happening to the oil. 

Gunpowder and dynamite do not need air to burn them, because 
they have oxygen within them. They can be set afire by a spark, while 
shut in a gun or cannon. The great noise of the explosion is made 
when the gunpowder or dynamite is so quickly changed to gas, for the 
gas takes up hundreds of times as much room as the gunpowder did. 

THE USE OF THE CHIMNEY. 

The lamp chimney makes the air that rises through it pass very 
close to the flame so that the carbon and hydrogen, waiting in the wick 
can take the oxygen from the air. While the carbon is burning it be¬ 
comes white hot and that makes the light. 

Do not try to blow out the flame of a lamp until you have turned 
the wick down. If you blow it while it is turned high you may break 
the chimney or force the flame down into the bowl of the lamp where 
the oil is; this will cause an explosion. When the lamp is not lighted 
keep the wick turned down below the top of the tube. If it is left 
turned up, oil will run down on the outside of the lamp. 

HOW DOES A LAMP EXPLODEf 

Sometimes the brass in the burner is so warm that it heats the oil 
until it gives off a kind of steam, or vapor. If the wick does not fit well 
in the tube, the flames will flash down to this vapor, and the lamp will 
blow up. It will blow up if the vapor can get out through a hole in the 
collar of the lamp, and reach the flame. 

See that the wick fits the tube, and that the collars and burners of 
your lamps are kept clean and bright, so that the heat will pass off. 
Only dirty burners heat the lamps and make them blow up. 

FILLING THE LAMP. 

If you have been -burning a lamp and it needs to be filled, do not 
take off the burner near a light or fire. The vapor in the bowl of your 
lamp may rush out to the flight or fire, and explode. Then flaming oil 
will be thrown over all who are near. Never fill a lamp while it is 
lighted. Many persons are burned to death because they do not put the 
light out before they fill the lamp. 

In Ohio there are more than two houses burned each week by the 
explosion or upsetting of coal oil lamps or lanterns. Those burned in 
Ohio last yeai cost $168,000. 


LESSON NO. 5. 


Kindling a Fire; 

DANGER IN KEROSENE FOR THAT USE. 

Never try to start a fire with coal oil. It is one of the most danger¬ 
ous things you can do. 

If a shaving or bit of paper is held above a lamp, you all know, 
that it will first turn brown, and then flash. It is a gas -that has been 
roasted out of the paper which flashes. After the flash has added its 
heat the shaving or paper will burn to ashes. In Ohio coal oil has to be 
tried, or tested, to see how hot it will get before it flashes. If it flashes 
before it is heated to 120 degrees, it must not be sold for making a light. 
We think that it is a very warm summer day when it is 9 degrees in 
the shade and in Ohio coal oil must be able to bear 30 degrees more of 
heat than that without “flashing.” 

It takes little flame to light a thin piece of wood, and so “kindling 
wood” is used. 


BEGINNING WITH A MATCH. 

We begin by heating the little piece of wood in a match so that 
it will flame. With that flame we light a piece of paper or shavings, 
and they make enough heat to set fire to our kindling wood. The 
kindling wood burns and makes heat enough to fire the coal. Anthracite, 
or hard coal, takes more heat to make it burn than the bituminous or 
soft coal takes. A pound of coal gives off as much heat as three pounds 
of dry wood. The water in green wood (wood that is newly cut) 
weighs half as much as the wood itself. You see that a great deal of 
heat is needed to make green wood burn. 

USING COAL OIL. 

Coal oil, or kerosene as it is properly called, starts a fire in a 
hurry, because it gives off six times as much heat as wood in burning, 
and it can be lighted with a match. It can never be used-safely unless 
the stove is quite cold. If there is the tiniest blaze in the stove, or even 
one red coal in the ashes, there is an explosion as soon as the coal 
oil is put in the stove. If there is no blaze and no hot coal, but the 
stove is warm, the explosion will not come at once. It will take place 
when the person building the fire strikes a match. 

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FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


15 


Every week the newspapers tell of some one who used kerosene in 
lighting a fire, and was burned to death. This is only one of the news¬ 
paper stories: “Mrs. Wood, on returning from church last evening, 
found the house cold. She poured coal oil on the dying embers and an 
explosion followed. Fear made her helpless and the angry flames 
burned her clothing. Friends found her unconscious and in two hours 
she died.” 

One paper tells of the death of a Mrs. Litz. “She was expecting her 
husband home soon to supper and was in a hurry to start the fire. She 
filled the stove with wood and poured coal oil on it. An explosion 
followed and Mrs. Litz, with her clothing and hair in flames, rushed 
around the front yard screaming in her terrible agony. In a few minutes 
she fell dying. Her child of six months was burned in the building. 

BURNED TO DEATH. 

The average number of people burned to death in Ohio, in a year, 
from using coal oil to quicken a fire is 12. The number badly burned 
is three times as large. 

The use of gasolene to start a fire always leads to a serious acci¬ 
dent. Never use it. 


LESSON NO. 6. 


Stoves for Cooking and Heating; 

HOW TO LESSEN DANGERS FROM THEM. 

About one-third of a million dollars is lost every year, in Ohio, by 
careless persons who put too much wood or coal in the stove at one 
time. The stoves are made red-hot and then the woodwork around 
them takes fire. 

If the walls behind the stoves and the floors under them were cov¬ 
ered by tin or zinc, the buildings would not burn. A roaring fire often 
carries sparks up the chimney and these may set fire to the roof, or the 
soot in the chimney may burn and so set fire to the roof. 

Never close the door of a heating stove, and then leave the room 
for any length of time, when there is a good fire burning in the stove'. 
The strong draft may make the stove red-hot and set fire to the house. 

Here are a few things we should never do: Never leave wood or 
kindling over night in a warm oven. Never leave clothing hanging close 
to the stove, either on a clothes-horse or chair back. Never place cloth¬ 
ing that has been cleaned with gasoline near any fire. 

If the wood of the wall or floor turns brown it has been heated 
until it is changing to charcoal. If this charcoal is heated as much as 
the wood was heated when it turned brown it will take fire. If grease 
or water gets into this brown wood (or charcoal), it may take fire even 
when there is no heat near it. 

Stoves must be at least one and a half feet from the walls, and if 
they cannot be farther away than that, there must be a sheet of tin, zinc, 
or sheet iron put over the plaster or woodwork. The sheet of metal 
should not be fastened tightly to the wall for the air must have a 
chance to get behind it and keep it cool. A good way is to hang the 
sheet of metal loosely on screw-hooks. Bright tin reflects heat better 
than zinc or sheet iron. 

All stoves should have iron legs. The sheet of metal should run up 
back of the hot stovepipe for a yard, at least. If the elbow of the stove¬ 
pipe is within a foot of the ceiling, sheet-metal should be placed above it. 

A wooden floor under a stove should have on it a sheet of metal 
extending out a foot in front of the ashpan. If wood is burned in the 
stove, the sheet of metal should extend out a foot beyond the oven door. 
As very hot coals may fall and make charcoal of the wood under the 
sheet of metal, it is a wise thing to put a sheet of asbestos cloth under 
the sheet of metal on the floor. 


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FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


17 


A parlor or a bed-room stove should have metal behind it and under 
it, so that the walls and floors will not take fire. Do not fill the stove 
full of coal and then leave it for the night, as coal swells while it is 
burning, and hot coals are likely to fall out of the open door or over 
the grate-bar. 

STOVE EXPLOSIONS. 

Do not put a great amount of fine (slack) coal on a fire. It makes 
a thick smoke which may explode when a blaze starts. The blaze sets 
fire to gas in the smoke, and the tiny bits of carbon which make smoke 
black. It was a smoke explosion that spread the fire which burned the 
business part of Baltimore a few years ago. At Lindsey, Ohio, a smoke 
explosion blew a stove into 140 pieces. 

A fire may come from grease or fat boiling over on a cook-stove. 
Don’t throw water on it, for that will spread the blaze. Use ashes, 
baking soda or salt to smother it. 

The cotton clothing of women and children easily takes fire when it 
touches the stove. Calico will blaze up if it touches iron that is heated 
only to a dark red. There are many stories like this, which we find in 
the papers: “Iris, the eight-year-old daughter of Harvey Rizor, was 
burned to death on. Sunday. Her clothing caught fire from the stove.” 

Reports of all the fires are sent to the state fire marshal and many 
of these reports tell of fires caused by stoves which are allowed to be¬ 
come too hot—“over-heated stoves.” If a stove is sound and whole, 
and is far enough away from the floor and wall, it cannot fire the house, 
even if it is red-hot. But many persons use stoves with cracks in them. 
Burning coals fall from them and soon the house is in flames. When a 
piece of the stove cracks, or breaks, a new piece should be put in its 
place. 


2 


LESSON NO. 7. 

Open Fireplaces and Grates; 

MANY ARE BURNED BY THEM. 

When your grandmother’s mother was a little girl, the open fire¬ 
place, with its andirons, swinging crane, and broad hearth of stone 
could be seen in every farm-house. The wood was laid on the andirons, 
the kettle hung from the crane over the hot fire and the turkey swung 
from the crane when roasting for Thanksgiving dinner. The bread was 
baked in tightly-covered skillets, with hot coals under them and resting 
on the covers. 

We do not often see the cheerful wood fire in the open fireplace in 
these days, because wood costs too much now. There are dangers in 
a wood fire; little bits of burning wood may be drawn up the broad 
chimney to fall upon the roof, and hot coals may be snapped out into 
the room. 

GRATES FOR COAL. 

Clinkers should not be allowed to stay in the bottom of coal grates. 
When fresh coal is piled on them, it comes so near the top of the grate 
that it often falls out. While coal is burning it swells and, although 
the grate may be none too full when the fire is lighted, it is much too 
full when the coal grows hot and swells. It is then that the hot coals 
roll down onto the carpet. 

Mrs. Hannah Hatfield was standing near an open fireplace, iron¬ 
ing, when a lump of coal rolled from the grate and set fire to her 
dress. She rushed into the yard and rolled on the ground to put out 
the fire, but she died from her burns. 

The brick or stone hearth in front of a grate should be at least two 
feet wide. Hot coals falling from grates set fire to about 40 houses 
each year in Ohio. 

When a blower is used to start a fire, or make it burn briskly, it 
should be watched every moment, or sparks and red-hot pieces of kind¬ 
ling will be carried out upon the roof. Newspapers used to fan the 
flames often take fire and burn stuff on the mantel. A big fire may 
burn the mantel coverings, or set fire to matches on the mantel. 

“While Stella Allison was dusting the mantelpiece, her apron was 
drawn into the grate, and set afire. Instantly all of her clothing was 
ablaze. The flame was put out by rolling her in bed clothes, but she died 
in agony in a few hours.” 


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FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


19 


Coal sometimes snaps and flies into the room because the natural 
gas in it explodes. This may happen in coal not yet hot enough to fire 
a carpet or rug. 

TO PROTECT BABY. 

Every open grate should have a wire fender in front of it. This 
will keep little children from falling into it, and the older ones from 
setting fire to their clothing by going too near to it. 

“The four-year-old daughter of James Fuller was pushed into the 
grate by her six-year-old brother while playing and burned so badly 
that she died.” 

Another sad story is of a death caused by burns from an open gas 

fire: 

“In passing too near a gas grate in her home in Newburg, the 
clothing of Harriet Green, four years old, daughter of the city solicitor 
of that town, caught fire and she was fatally burned.” 


LESSON NO. 8. 


Fires from Chimneys. 

PUTTING OUT THE BURNING SOOT. 

A flue is a tube through which the smoke passes from the fire up 
into the open air. From the stove to the chimney the smoke passes 
through a stovepipe, which is a tube of sheet iron. The chimney is 
that part of the flue which is in the wall of the house, or against it. 
The chimney is made of brick, stone, concrete or mud. 

Woodwork must never be close to a flue or it will burn. If there are 
cracks in the flue, sparks may fly out into the room and set fire to the 
house. Every day such cracks in flues cause two or more fires in our 
state. It costs, on an average, about $68 to replace what one fire burns. 
If chimneys and stovepipes were looked at once a week, and mended 
when they were out of order, a great deal of money would be saved. 

Chimneys and stovepipes should be cleaned and repaired before cold 
weather comes. The first hard frost is most likely to come on the 
night of Nov. 17th. Chimneys should be cleaned and mended before 
the middle of November, and stovepipes should be taken down and 
cleaned. When coal is burned there is always soot to be brushed out 
of the chimney and stovepipe. 

If natural gas is burned there is very little soot to take away but 
the gas makes the mortar in the chimney crumble and fall and this 
mortar is liable to choke the small stovepipe. If the pipe should get 
full of crumbs of mortar, persons sleeping in the room would be choked 
to death by smoke. The mortar between the bricks crumbles because 
there is no heavy coat of soot to protect it from the acid fumes in the 
smoke. 


WHY CHIMNEYS CRACK. 

Holes in flues may be caused in many ways. The’foundation of the 
chimney is that which it rests upon, and if the foundation settles, or 
sinks a little, cracks will come in the chimney. If the brick is soft and 
crumbles, or the mortar falls out, cracks may be left and through these 
cracks sparks can fly out and set fire to the house. 

Chimneys made of brick are often built up from joists and if the 
joists twist the chimney cracks. Such chimneys often rest on a plank 
with nothing but a layer of mortar over the plank to keep it from burn¬ 
ing. Such chimneys cause many of our fires. Tile chimneys of all 

( 20 ) 


I 


FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 21 

sorts are unsafe, because they are very likely to crack off when they 
reach the roof where the cold air strikes them. 

If the stovepipe is not closely joined to the chimney, burning soot 
or sparks may pass out through a crack and start a fire. Such fires 
usually start in dry attics, and, before any one knows it, they are 
burning fiercely. 

The flue in a chimney should be one-tenth the size of the fireplace 
it comes from. Chimneys should always be built from the cellar, and 
have a well-fitted iron door at the bottom through which soot can. be 
cleaned out. 

As soot is nothing but many tiny grains of charcoal, it burns very 
easily and gives out great heat. When it is burning there is a strong 
draft up the chimney, and the many small pieces of glowing charcoal 
are blown all over the roof. 

To put out soot fires throw on common salt. If there is sulphur in 
the house use that, as it is better than salt. It sometimes will put out a 
fire even after the woodwork around the chimney has been lighted. 

Bad flues (chimne3^s and stovepipes) are the cause of the greatest 
number of house fires. 


LESSON NO. 9. 


Stovepipes and Smoke. 

HOW TO FEED A STOVE. 

Many buildings burn because stovepipes become red hot and fire the 
walls behind them. A good cleaning of pipes shows loose joints, rust 
holes, and open seams. There is more heat from a clean stovepipe, than 
from one lined with soot, because soot holds heat better than a feather 
bed holds it. If the stovepipe is kept clean, the heat will come out 
through the thin iron of the pipe, and warm the room well. 

If there is an elbow in the stovepipe, the sparks cannot fly straight 
up. They are given a chance to get cooled off before they reach the dry 
roof. When they reach the elbow in the pipe, they are likely to bump in 
making the turn and fall down without doing any harm. While a fire 
is burning/the air in the chimney travels at the rate of three to six feet 
a second. 

WHY DOES A FLUE DRAW ? 

When air is warmed it swells, just as a sponge swells when it is wet. 
The warm air takes up more room than the cold air around it. It is 
lighter than before and the heavier cold air forces it up above it, just as 
the cork of a fishing line is forced to the top of the water when a fish lets 
go after pulling it under. 

After the pipe is put up, see that it is not pushed into the flue so far 
as to choke it. It should be pushed in far enough to stay in place. See 
that there are no holes in the pipe where the sparks can fly out into 
the room. 

Never stuff rags or paper into a stovepipe hole in the chimney. 
Never cover such a hole with paper. It must be covered closely with a 
sheet iron cover. 

Pipes that are not exactly the same size must not be put together, 
or there will be room for sparks to fly out. A stovepipe should go into a 
chimney, and not pass through a roof or wall—even of a summer kitchen. 
Sparks from it may light the shingles, or birds’ nests in the eaves. If 
a pipe must pass through wood or plaster, it should have around it a 
double collar of tin, zinc or sheet iron. The double collar should have 
a space at least one inch wide, between its two parts, so that cool air 
can pass through it. 

Every autumn all stovepipes should be well cleaned—not shaken, or 

( 22 ) 





FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


23 


wiped out, but scraped. If the pipes are not scraped, we shall not find 
all the weak, thin places and holes in them. Rust often covers the holes 
and falls off after the pipe is put up. 

SMOKE. 

When you see smoke coming from a chimney, it shows, that fuel is 
being wasted. If a fire in a stove has just enough air, and room enough 
in which to use the air, the smoke is nothing but carbonic acid gas and 
vapor of water, which cannot be seen. Smoke that can be seen is made 
black by very small pieces of soot, and soot is unburned carbon or that 
part of the wood or coal which did not burn. Smoke that can be seen 
shows that money is being wasted. 

THE GASES. 

The carbon is but a small part of the waste. Some of the gases 
roasted out of the coal do not burn. When all of these gases burn, the 
fire is made hotter. If the fire were given air enough, the soot and gases 
would have been burned. 

To get all the heat from coal, do not put too much on the fire at 
once; feed it in shovelfuls—not in bucketfuls. If too much is put on at 
once, much of the soot and the gases will go out into the air to poison 
plants and soil our faces and clothes. When any fuel is given just air 
enough to make it burn as it should, a gas will pass off fromi it which is 
good food for plants. If the fuel does not burn perfectly, the smoke 
will have sulphur in it, and sulphur poisons plants. 

Never cover all of the fire with coal. It will keep the air it needs 
from being drawn through it. The smoke from factories poisons the air 
of cities, puts grime on the wall paper, smudges the tablecloth, and ruins 
the health of the people. Smoke will not be seen in a few years, if all 
the cities will make laws against it. Every factory owner will save money 
by having the right kind of a furnace under the boiler in his factory. 
The right kind of a furnace will burn all the fuel, and not let it go out of 
the chimney to make dirt and sickness. 

When smoke appears in the school room or there is a cry of “fire” 
wait for the teacher to tell you what to do. You may lose your life if 
you do not. 

One hundred and sixty-four children lost their lives in the burning 
schoolhouse at Collinwood, near Cleveland. They did not mind their 
teachers in the fire drill. In their fright they piled up against the door. 
Many of them did not suffer from being burned, because the gases from 
the flames put them to sleep before the fire reached them, 


LESSON NO. 10. 


Sparks Start Many Fires. 

WHAT IS A SPARK? 

A spark is a small piece of white-hot carbon, a glowing bit of char¬ 
coal, which breaks away from anything that is burning. It escapes, or 
breaks away, because the' force of the hot air going upward is strong 
enough to carry anything light up with it. The smaller the spark is, the 
sooner it cools. 

Some kinds of wood give off more sparks than others in burning. 
Plickory gives off the greatest number, and buckeye the least. There is 
more danger from sparks in burning shavings than in burning sticks, 
because the draft of a chimney is so likely to carry pieces of burning 
shavings up and drop them on the roof. Wood makes more'sparks in 
burning than soft coal makes, and soft coal makes more than hard coal. 
- iard (or anthracite) coal makes very few sparks. 

More than one-third of the loss in Ohio by fire is from flying 
sparks. In on^ year 2,142 buildings were burned by sparks. The great¬ 
est number of fires were caused by sparks, drawn up through the flues, 
falling on shingle roofs. The other buildings were fired by sparks which 
escaped through cracks in chimneys and open joints in stovepipes. 

The boy who invents a screen or some other thing which will stop 
sparks from flying out of chimney tops will surely make a fortune if 
his invention does not spoil the draft-of the flue. 

It is a good practice to paint shingle roofs. Paint not only makes 
them less likely to rot, but prevents the forming of fuzz on them. This 
fuzz is very fine, small kindling and is easily lighted by a spark. The 
fuzz which forms on beams and boards in factories, stables, sheds, and 
fences, is likely tp take fire from flying sparks. If the beams and boards 
are whitewashed, there is no more danger. Whitewash holds down the 
fuzz and the slaked lime in the whitewash prevents the wood taking fire 
easily. The whitewash brush sweeps away the cobwebs which often 
catch sparks. 

Sparks start a few fires in rubbish, leaves, and dead grass, and many 
buildings are destroyed by sparks that fly from burning piles of rubbish 
at house-cleaning time. 

A spark may be hot enough to explode gasolene vapor or acetylene 
gas. Sparks may fire thin paper, rags, cotton, grease, tar, or lace cur¬ 
tains. More fires are started in rubbish heaps by sparks than by spon¬ 
taneous combustion or carelessness with matches or cigar stubs. 

( 24 ) 




FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


25 


In Ohio, about 40 fires a year are started by sparks from factory 
and traction engines and about 20 fires from cupolas. 


DANGERS FROM LOCOMOTIVES. 

Sparks from locomotives fire nearly 85 buildings a year in this state, 
and many of them are in crowded cities, where there is great danger of 
the fire spreading. The fire losses that railway companies are forced 
to pay on account of sparks, are very large. The inventor who will make 
something lasting that will catch the sparks that fly from locomotives will 
certainly be made rich. 


SPARKS LIGHTING IN BIRDS* NESTS. 

Sparks light in birds’ nests in the eaves of houses and in openings 
made to let air into 1 storehouses and mills. In Cleveland sparks caught 
in a bird’s nest in the top of a church tower. Birds’ nests are made of 
ver\ fine, dry stuff and they burn quickly. As English sparrows build 
their nests in nearly every opening near the tops of tall city buildings, 
it is best to cover all such openings with screens of woven wire. Not 
long ago a large mill and elevator was seen to take fire from a spark 
falling in a sparrow’s nest. It burned to the ground. 

The sparrows were brought from England and, when they found 
the winters were much colder here, they made their nests much thicker 
and warmer. When one of these nests takes fire, the boards under it are 
sure to burn. In cities, every spring, all sparrows’ nests about buildings 
should be torn down. The house-sparrow—or English sparrow as it is 
commonly called—is of no known use and it drives away the song birds 
which give us pleasure by their beautiful music. The song birds are 
useful to the farmer, because they live by eating the insects which destroy 
his grain and fruit. 

A STORY OF A BIRD’S NEST. 

“Once upon a time,” as the fairy stories say, there lived a family of 
robins half way up in the branches of an old oak tree. Near them, in 
the eaves of a tall factory, dwelt Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow, whose great- 
great grandparents came from England. The little robins were just 
learning to stretch their wings, and fly a few yards, and they looked up 
at the Sparrow nest and said: “Oh, what a dear little home those robins 
have, way up there! When our wings are a little stronger, may we visit 
them, mother dear ?” 

“My dear children,” said wise Mrs. Robin, “they are not robins, and 
they are not even friends of ours. If you flew to their door they would 
peck at you and drive you away. They are great fighters, but when it 


26 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 


comes to singing, they can never get above the kindergarten class. When 
you are singing carols, they will not be able to go even half way up the 
scale. 

“Before you broke through the beautiful blue shells, that lay so close 
to my heart, your father had all he could do to keep them away from our 
little home. While he was away getting me food, they would peck at 
me, and scold, and scold—I believe they wanted this nest for their own!” 

The little robins looked soberly at one another. They were learning 
that the big world is not all love and sunshine, and it made them sad. 

The days went by and all the little robins had learned to fly. One 
of them flew to the top of the oak tree and sang until it seemed as though 
his little throat would burst. In the midst of a very wonderful trill, he 
looked over at the Sparrow home. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Sparrow was 
there, but something very bright and red danced up and down on the rim 
of the nest. His father and mother had warned him against such dread¬ 
ful things as cats, guns and sling-shots, but this was something different. 
How large it was growing, and how it snapped and cracked! He flew 
down in great alarm and cried to his father and mother to come quickly 
and see! They called “Fire! Fire !” at the top of their sweet bird voices, 
and a man passing by on the sidewalk below, looked up and saw the 
flames. In a short time the firemen came and the building was saved, but 
Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow’s home was burned. 

The owner of the factory was very grateful to the man who turned 
in the alarm, but he said: “The robins saved your building that time. 
I’d advise you to keep those sparrows out of your eaves. Their nest 
caught the sparks from Smith’s chimney.” 


LESSON NO. ii. 


The Ash Heap and the Coal Pile; 

EITHER MY TAKE FIRE. 

About one hundred buildings are burned in Ohio each year by hot 
ashes which have been emptied against boards. Ashes are often thrown 
into wooden boxes and against fences or sheds. The inspectors of the 
Fire Marshal’s office find many wooden ash boxes in the halls of large 
houses in which a number of families live. Often hot ashes are put in 
closets. Ash piles in back yards often touch a wooden fence or the side 
of a building. 

When the ashes are not hot enough to set fire to wood, they may 
be hot enough to char (or brown) it. When a hot coal strikes this 
charred surface, the charcoal on it will take fire. If the layer of char¬ 
coal gets any kind of fat or grease against it, it will take fire and burn 
the box or house of which the board is a part. 

ASHES TAKE FIRE SPONTANEOUSLY. 

Sometimes when the ashes are not even warm; a fire will start in 
them. Wood ashes contain many little pieces of charcoal which did not 
burn because not enough air was given to the fire. In a coal fire much 
of the coal dust does not burn. The greatest amount of dust is found in 
ashes from grate fires. 

The moistures (dampness) gathered from the cellar floor, or from 
rain, may cause the particles of charcoal or coal dust in the ash pile to 
take fire, if there is little movement of air. The most dangerous ash 
pile is made up of sweepings, rags, scraps of meat and odds and ends 
of wood. Ashes stored in the cellar should be kept dry and clean. In 
the house they should be kept only in metal cans having covers, and in 
the yard they should be piled where they do not touch any wood. They 
should not be mixed with any other rubbish. Hot ashes do not have to 
be red hot to start a fire in an ash pile. , 

CINDER DUMPS MAY BURN. 

Large masses of cinder often take fire. It is not safe to use cinders 
for foundations of buildings, if they are mixed with any rubbish or if 
oils are permitted to drain through them. Spontaneous combustion in 

( 27 ) 


28 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 


old cinder banks has made it necessary for people to move away the 
houses that were built upon them. If linseed oil is thrown upon wood 
ashes, spontaneous combustion will occur at some hour of the second 
day after the oil is thrown upon them. 

WHEN WATER INCREASES A BLAZE. 

Burning grease, lint, cotton, silk goods and gunpowder give out 
a gas which spreads in the form of smoke, if it has not enough air to 
to burn it. Throwing water upon this smoking mass makes steam, which 
carries the other gases in the burning stuff out to the air, where they can 
get enough oxygen to burn them. Then they explode. The great fires at 
Baltimore and at Knoxville both started with an explosion of smoke 
caused by throwing water on g, smouldering fire. 

COAL MAY FIRE ITSELF. 

Sometimes coal in heaps sets itself afire. The larger the heap the 
more the danger. The most important cause of such coal fires is the 
drinking in of oxygen from the air. This makes a heat that may become 
so great that the coal will begin to burn in the center. Spontaneous 
combustion of coal is not common. In the last 200 cases of spontane¬ 
ous combustion in Ohio but four of the fires were in coal. 

The coal pile should be as much as 20 feet away from the furnace. 
It should have near it an opening for carrying off heat. Coal should 
not be stored while wet. It should not be put in wooden bins nor around 
wooden posts. If it is close to the furnace, natural gas in it may be 
roasted out and explode. If it is put in while wet, it cakes so that the air 
cannot move through it freely, and the heat from it is not carried away. 
If there is wood around the coal, the house will probably be afire before 
the burning of the coal inside the heap is noticed. 


CAUSES OF SPONTANEOUS IGNITION. 

The newspapers have told of some cases of this kind: 

Several tons of coal were burned by spontaneous combustion in 
the yards of the Davis Sewing Machine Company.” 

At the Bohemian Art Pottery at Zanesville the pile of slack had 
lain at the side of the pottery for so long that spontaneous combustion 
resulted. The smouldering flames attracted no attention at first but, 
when the fence around the pottery caught fire, a passer-by noticed it 
and sent in an alarm.” 

The infirmary in Ottawa County burned down from spontaneous 
combustion of nut coal in the cellar. It started in the center of the coal 







FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


29 


pile and traveled up a wooden box containing a water pipe and lighted 
the building. 

Ohio coal will take fire when it is only a little hotter than water 
is when it begins to boil. 

HOW COAL SPOILS. 

Many coals lose so much of their heat giving quality while in the 
cellar or shed that it makes no saving to buy the winter’s coal early in 
the autumn when it is cheaper. In five months Ohio coals lose one- 
twentieth to one-tenth of their heating power. After five months there 
is no loss. Coal keeps as well out of doors as in a shed or cellar. If 
it is kept under water it will be as good to use in making a fire as when 
it came from the coal mine. 


LESSON NO. 12. 


Dangers from Leaking Gas; 

HOW IT MAY BE EXPLODED. 

Our noses were given us for our use and pleasure. One great 
use is to Warn us of danger; they tell us when gas is leaking. There 
are two things to do as soon as you smell the gas: i. Open the doors 
and windows. 2. Close all the gas keys. 

Never look for the leak with a lighted match or a lamp. The flame 
from the match or lamp will light the gas that has been leaking and 
there will be an explosion. Many lives are lost because people are foolish 
enough to look for a leak with a light. Hunt for the leak with your nose 
and fingers. You can feel the gas coming through the leak-hole when 
your finger is over it. 

If there is gas burning in a room next the one in which you smell the 
gas, do not open the door into that room. 

A plumber should be called to shut off the gas outside the house 
and mend the leak. While you wait for the plumber- to come, you can 
plug a small hole with a splinter of soft wood. A crack may be stopped 
by wrapping the pipe tightly with a strip of cloth, that has been smeared 
with soap. These things will help until you can have the pipe mended. 
Leaks usually come where two ends of pipe are joined, or at an opening 
in the seam of the pipe. 

Gas is always trying to get out of the pipes; if it finds a place to 
get out it is likely to choke people to death while they sleep. When it 
reaches a blaze it takes fire and burns the bodies of those it has choked. 

A DANGEROUS ENEMY. 

If gas is always trying to get out, you can see that nothing but 
strong, iron pipes will hold it. We often see rubber pipes or tubes 
used but these are not strong enough to hold the gas. They are not 
safe because they may break off at the end. If they break while the 
fire is burning the fire will go out but, if the stove-burner is very hot 
the gas that leaks out will be lighted. Rubber tubes may be pulled off in 
moving the stoves, or be knocked off in many ways. 

Not long ago a mother left her little girl alone in a room for a few 
minutes. When she came back she found the poor little one lying on 

( 30 ) 


FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


31 


the floor smothered by gas from one of these rubber tubes. The child 
had been playing with it and pulled it off. She never awakened. 

COMMON ACCIDENTS. 

Gas keys are so easily turned that many dreadful things will happen 
if we are not very careful. A lady was passing by a gas key in a room 
where there was no fire or light. Her skirt caught on the key and the 
gas began to escape but the lady did not know it. It rushed into the 
next room, where there was a fire, and then there was a great explosion. 
A wall of the house was blown out. 

Children in their play hit the gas keys.and open them; men kick 
them open, and women drag their dish-clothes over them and hit them 
with pans and kettles when they are cooking. Sometimes the broom 
strikes them when they are sweeping. 

In new houses the gas pipes are under the floor and there is a key¬ 
hole. The danger is not so great in such houses, if they do not leave the 
key in the key-hole. 

A WORSE DANGER. 

Our noses can not tell us when gas is leaking into the cellar from 
the main pipes in the street. It has to pass through the earth to get 
into the cellar and the earth takes away its smell. This makes it very 
dangerous. As it is lighter than the air, it rises to the ceiling of the 
cellar. One-sixth of all the gas put into the main pipes leaks out. The 
gas company would have to spend more money to mend the leaks than 
all the gas they lose is worth. 


LESSON NO. 13. 


Gas Lights. 

SMOTHERING BY GAS. 

Three kinds of gases are used for light: coal gas, water gas and 
natural gas. Where coal is cheap coal gas is used; where charcoal is 
cheaper, water gas is used. Natural gas is used for light in Ohio, West 
Virginia, Indiana and Illinois. As it costs only one-fourth as much as 
the other kinds of gas, it is used for warming and cooking as well as 
lighting. 

COAL^ GAS. 

When coa-1 is roasted in an oven we get coke, tar, ammonia liquor and 
lighting gases from it. The gases are passed from the oven through holes 
in the bottom of a large iron pipe, which lies on the ground. This pipe 
is half filled with water and most of the tar and ammonia settle in the 
water. The gases are then passed through a number of tall iron pipes to 
cool them. Then they go up through a tower filled with coke. Water 
trickles down through the coke. This is called the “scrubber,” for it is 
here that the gas is cleaned or purified; the ammonia and all the other 
gases that can be dissolved in water are taken out of it. At last the gas 
is ready for use and it goes into the large gas-holder which presses it 
into the street pipes. 

Do you know what the anilin dyes, used in coloring your Easter eggs, 
are made from the tar that comes from the gas factory? 

WATER GAS. 

Water gas is made by forcing steam through charcoal, which is kept 
white hot. When it comes through pipes into our homes nearly half of 
it is carbon monoxid. This makes it the most dangerous of the gases 
used for lighting. It is cheaper than coal gas and is sometimes mixed 
with it. It should never be used in a house. Thousands of people are 
smothered to death each year by the carbon monoxid in the water gas 
which they use. Carbon monoxid is another name for the “fire damp” 
which smothers the poor miners after an explosion in the coal mine. 

DANGEROUS GAS JETS. 

Gas jets that have a hinge in them are dangerous anywhere in a 
house unless they have glass globes or wire cages around the light. About 

( 32 ) 



FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


33 


75 houses are burned each year in Ohio by these swinging gas jets. 
Careless people turn them against the window curtains, furniture or the 
wall. The double-jointed gas jets are more dangerous than those with 
one joint. A gas jet will first char the wood which is too close to it and 
then light the charred wood (charcoal). 

No gas jet should be less than two and a half feet from the ceiling. 

don't blow out the gas. 

The match should be in your hand ready to light it as soon as the 
gas is turned on. Mrs. Baker, of Shelby, turned on the gas and waited 
too long before using a match. An explosion set fire to her clothing and 
she was burned to death. 

When a gas jet is left open without being lighted the gas fills the 
room and smothers those who are in it, if the doors and windows are 
not open. This is because the gas which is breathed fills the lungs and 
keeps them from carrying to the blood the oxygen which they can always 
get from pure air. 

Many persons blow out the gas light because they do not know 
how to turn it off. Of course the gas escapes and puts them to sleep— 
such a long sleep that they never wake. 

Flame changes the gas to carbonic acid and water. If the stove 
is an open one, the water comes out into the room as steam. In cold 
weather it freezes on the window panes. It swells the wood in the fur¬ 
niture so that the glue cracks in all its joints. This steam in the air 
makes one feel warmer than he would if the air were dry. For this 
reason a room heated by an open natural gas stove need not be kept so 
hot as a room heated by a closed wood or coal stove. 

the natural gas stove. 

Many a natural gas stove is dangerous because it has no pipe to 
carry the fumes of the burning gas to the chimney. The smoke from 
it cannot be seen, because there is no soot in it; but it contains car¬ 
bonic acid, which is the poison always found in smoke. If too 
much gas is let into a stove, or if it gets red hot, carbon monoxid is 
formed. If there is even a very small amount of this gas in the air you 
breathe, you will die. It fills all the red cells of the blood so that they 
cannot carry oxygen through the body. Death comes in. a few minutes. 
The fumes from burning charcoal kill in the same way. 

More lives are lost by cooking stoves than by healing stoves. Some- 
toes two burners are turned open and only one is lighted; sometimes a 
burner is blown out by the wind. Children play with the knobs and open 
the burners. In £hi§ way the gas gets into the oven and very soon there 
Is an '.explosion, 

5 


34 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 


The fumes from natural gas stoves crumble the mortar that is be¬ 
tween the bricks in chimneys. The crumbs of mortar fall down and 
choke the small pipes from the gas stoves. Then the fumes may smother 
persons sleeping in the rooms where such stoves are used. 

RESUSCITATION. 

If there is a strong smell of gas in a room, and someone is sleeping 
there so soundly that you cannot awaken him, you should throw open the 
doors and windows and call for help. As soon as you smell the gas, 
open the windows , While waiting for the doctor, you should try to get 
fresh air into the sleeper’s lungs. 

To do this, put him on the floor. Hold his tongue out of his mouth 
with your fingers, first wrapping a handerchief around them to prevent 
slipping. This keeps the throat open and lets the fresh air into the 
lungs. Have some one kneel above his head and catch his arms above 
the wrists, then pull them along the floor away from his body and up 
along side of his head. After a moment bring his arms together, and 
move them down until the elbows almost meet over his stomach. Press 
them down on his stomach; this squeezes the gas or air out of his lungs. 
This should be done seventeen times each minute. That is as fast as a 
healthy person breathes. 

By using these movements we can save the lives of many persons 
who have been poisoned by gas, drowned, or stunned by lightning or 
the electricity that comes from light and trolley wires. 

Note. —A teacher, by having two boys demonstrate this method upon another 
can impress a lesson that may save a number of lives. 



LESSON NO. 14. 

The District Schoolhouse; 


FAULTS IN ITS CONSTRUCTION. 

The knowledge we obtain in our schools has made this the best and 
greatest country in the world. 

The district schoolhouse we most often see is one 24 feet wide, 36 
feet long, and 14 feet high to the eaves. More than half of the school- 
houses that burn take fire from chimneys that are not built right; the 
other half of them burn from careless feeding of the stove or because 
they are set afire. A brick schoolhouse is almost as likely to be burned 
down as one of wood, if it has a poorly made chimney. Usually the 
door and the teacher’s desk are at one end of the building and the other 
end is a solid wall. Near the center of the room is a “cannot,” or “burn- 
side” stove for burning coal. The stovepipe runs straight up into a 
brick chimney. 

THE CHIMNEY. 

The bottom of the chimney is a board which sets on two joists. A 
layer of mortar is the only thing that protects this wooden bottom from 
the sparks and hot coals which are drawn up through the stovepipe. 
This mortar is thrown upon the board before the bricks are put in place 
Sometimes the mortar cracks so that the sparks drop through it to the 
wood, and, after a while, set it afire. Iron straps or a stone bottom to 
such a chimney make it safer, but it is hard to fit a pipe into a hole in 
a stone tight enough to keep sparks from dropping through to the room 
below. A chimney built in this way is never safe. The weight of the 
brick twists the two joists which hold it up and the settling of the 
chimney makes cracks in it. Sparks can pass out into the attic through 
these cracks. 


THE ATTIC. 

Schoolhouse attics rarely have openings in the ends to let in cool air 
and the rough wood in the attic is very dry and hot. So, when a spark 
strays into the attic it is almost sure to start a fire. 

This danger is made greater when there is no stairway or ladder or 
hole through which one can get into the attic to throw water on a fire. 
Even in school houses in which there is an easy way to get into the 

( 35 ) 


36 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 


attic, a fire is likely to get such a start that there is not enough water at 
hand to put it out. In most district schools all the water one can get 
quickly is that in the drinking water bucket, and it is not half full if the 
children play hard at recess. 

A fire in a schoolhouse nearly always starts where it cannot be 
quickly reached with plenty of water. If a schoolhouse gets afire it is 
almost sure to burn to the ground. In every school house there should 
be a ladder long enough to reach to the roof. There should be a trap 
door in the ceiling through which it could be pushed. 

The schoolhouse chimney, for several reasons, should be built in 
the back end of the building. At the end of the building it can rest on the 
ground, so that it will not twist and crack open and let sparks into 
the attic. The stove-pipe can then be run from above the stove at a 
safe distance from the ceiling, to the chimney. 

THE STOVE PIPE. 

A pipe so placed gives off one-fifth as much heat as the stove, and 
it is in the back part of the room, where heat is most needed. Then the 
stove does not need to be kept so hot, and the children near it will not 
have to keep the heat from their faces by holding up their books. 

When the stove pipe is run to the back of the room, before it enters 
the chimney, the sparks have time to cool before they reach the roof. 
Many of them will Tump their heads” in turning from the pipe into 
the chimney, and drop to the bottom of the chimney where they can do 
no harm. In a straight-up pipe and chimney the sparks go out upon the 
shingles so quickly that they drop while still hot. 

THE STOVE. 

Schoolhouses have burned because fires have been kindled in them, 
and then left unwatched, while the building was getting warmed. Kind¬ 
ling, or the coal-box, too near the stove caused the fire; sometimes the 
neglected stove grew hot enough to fire the floor underneath it. 

In covering a fire to keep it over night the ashes should be shaken 
down so that the coal which is put in will not come up to the door. The 
coal will become heated and swell one-third its bulk during the night, 
and may get high enough to fall out on the floor through the open door 

A piece of zinc or bricks laid in sand should be put under the stove 
and extended two feet beyond it all around. 

A school house stove should be big enough to warm it without being 
made red hot. When the side of the stove is red hot carbon monoxid, a 
very poisonous gas produced in burning coal comes out through it. 
When this gas is breathed into the lungs part of the red blood cells 
crumple up. This causes headaches and dullness of the brain in winter 


37 


FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 

and the children suffering from it grow pale. This is the most important 
fact in this lesson. Remember the deadly gas. 

Every schoolhouse should have a slate or metal roof because it 
lessens the danger from sparks. A shingle roof is always the first thing 
in a schoolhouse to need mending. 

Two hundred and nine district schoolhouses have been burned down 
in Ohio in six years. Of these one hundred and nine were brick. 


LESSON NO. 15. 


The Danger from Christmas Trees; 

IN HOMES AND CHURCHES. 

When the Christmas tree is trimmed and lighted it is a big torch 
such as a giant might carry. The tree is always an evergreen whose 
twigs are full of rosin. It is trimmed with festoons of tissue paper and 
wreaths of dry leaves which will burn with a flash. Many of the pres¬ 
ents are made of celluloid which explodes when heated and burns 
fiercely. Other presents are covered with lace or embroidery, which may 
be lighted by a spark. The paper Christmas bells, the netting of which 
the candy bags are made, and the dry, painted wood in the toys burn 
easily. 

In the midst of these things which burn so easily, a number of can¬ 
dles are fastened (sometimes not very firmly) to light branches of the 
evergreen which move to and fro in every current of air. What a temp¬ 
tation it must be to the fiend, fire. 

While the candles are,lighted, no one should be permitted to change, 
or touch, anything on the tree. Doors should be kept closed because of 
the danger from drafts of air swaying the branches, or blowing lace cur¬ 
tains against the tree. Never leave the tree alone while it is lighted; 
that would be a very dangerous thing to do. 

BLOW OUT THE CANDLES. 

After you have admired the sparkling tree and it is time to take 
off the presents the candles should be blown out. If they remain light¬ 
ed you are in danger of brushing something against them while you 
are taking off the gifts. You will be so interested in the gifts by that 
time, that you will not care very much if the lights are out. 

Very often cotton is placed under the tree to look like snow. This 
is a foolish thing to do, because candles may fall on the cotton, or sparks 
from matches may set it afire. Cotton, like all of the vegetable fibres, 
is made up of hollow tubes which have air in them. This makes the 
tubes of cotton burn inside as well as out. 

It costs very little now to trim a tree beautifully, with bright balls 
and other things that do not burn easily. The Japanese tissue paper now 
made in Massachusetts is very beautiful for decorations. It will not 
take fire even from a candle flame but will turn to ashes without blaz¬ 
ing. 


( 38 ) 



kOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


39 


The floor under the tree may be protected by a sheet of zinc or iron. 
A Christmas tree can be made less dangerous and more beautiful if the 
presents are placed under it, instead of on it. 

TREES FROM MAINE TO CALIFORNIA. 

In the Northern states one family in fourteen has a Christmas tree. 
This requires a large number of trees. Nearly all of them are spruce 
from the wild parts of Maine, Northern New York or Canada. When 
shipped here they have their limbs tied up so that 600 of them can be 
packed in a car. 


TREES IN CHURCHES. 

More people have been burned by fires starting in Sunday school 
Christmas trees than by fires starting in home trees. This is because 
there are usually a number of managers working around the Sunday 
school tree. Many kind gentlemen, dressed like Santa in cotton batting, 
have been burned to death by the cotton getting afire while they were 
giving the gifts and goodies to the children. Many children have been 
killed by fire or trampled to death in the rush to get away from a blaz¬ 
ing Christmas tree. 

In all cases the cotton used in the trimmings of Santa Claus should 
first be dipped in alum water to make it hard to light or mineral wool 
should take its place. 

CHRISTMAS TREE DONT’s. 

Last Christmas twelve Ohio homes were burned by wax candles 
setting fire to Christmas trees. You can see how necessary it is for 
Ohio people to take the advice in the “don’ts” which follow: 

Don’t let children touch the tree. 

Don’t use festoons of the ordinary tissue paper, or cotton batting on 
a tree. 

Don’t use any ornaments made of celluloid. 

Don’t light a single candle until everything is ready for the children 
to come in. 

Don’t permit a draft of air to sway the branches of a tree while 
the candles are lighted. 

Don’t let any one change the position of anything on the tree after 
the candles are lighted; it is so easy to sway a candle against something 
which will take fire. 

Don’t leave a lighted tree unwatched. 

Don’t put cotton beneath the tree to make the carpet look like snow^ 
covered ground. 


40 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 


Don’t fail to have a bucket of water near the tree. 

Don’t remove a thing from the tree until the candles on it are blown 

out. 

Don’t let the tree stand long after Christmas. When dry, it is 
doubly dangerous. 

Christmas should be a time of joy and good cheer but many hearts 
are saddened on this sacred day by the burning of homes and of loved 
ones through carelessness. 


LESSON NO. 16. 


Fire Danger from Grease and Oil. 

A FIRE MAY START ITSELF. 

When a fire starts itself we call it “spontaneous combustion.” Most 
fires are started by something we can see, like matches, torches, burning 
pieces of wood or paper. We cannot see what starts “Spontaneous com¬ 
bustion,” but we know that about 160 fires are caused in our state every 
year by fires that start themselves. 

A LITTLE OF THE CHEMISTRY OF COMBUSTION. 

When anything burns, the carbon in it has to join the oxygen in the 
air. If the carbon and oxygen unite slowly, as they do in the rotting of 
wood, the rusting of iron or the decaying of a potato, the heat is very 
little and is not felt. If the carbon and oxygen unite fast enough to 
make a heat that will roast out the gases and burn them, it makes a 
flame. Wood and coal are heated until they are in flames. If the carbon 
and oxygen rush together in a great hurry to unite there is an explosion. 

GREASY RAGS. 

Greasy rags caused 122 of the last 200 fires from spontaneous com¬ 
bustion which were reported to the state fire marshal. A fat, when 
warmed, is an oil; when it is smeared or spread on anything it is grease. 
Spontaneous combustion is oftener caused by vegetable oils (linseed 
cottonseed, nut, castor bean and olive) than by animal fats such as tallow, 
butter and lard, unless the animal fats spoil or become “rancid.” When 
any of these oils or fats are spread over a large surface of stuff that is 
easily burned, they cause spontaneous combustion. They take the oxygen 
from the air so -fast that a great deal of heat is made, and if the fat is 
spread on a piece- of rag, or thin cotton cloth, the cloth will first char 
(turn brown) and then take fire. A mop used in oiling a floor in the 
Home for Working Girls in Columbus took fire in a few hours after 
being put in a closet under the stair. If the closet had not been closed, 
so that the air could not move through it, the heat would have passed off 
and the mop would not have taken fire. 

Linseed oil causes the greatest number of fires that burn buildings. 
Cotton rags, sawdust or scraps of silk wet with linseed oil, cottonseed oil 
or olive oil may start a fire. This oil is likely to get into any pile of 
rubbish. 


( 41 ) 


42 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY C)E frlRfi. 


CLOSET FIRES. 

Greasy rags and overalls and cloths used in oiling the floors start fires 
if they are shut up in closets. Greasy clothing hanging in closets have 
caused seven fires in Ohio within two years. Many factories burn 
because fires are started by the spontaneous combustion .of dryers, tur¬ 
pentine and linseed oil in their paint shops. 

Rags smeared with lard or butter are often carelessly thrown into a 
barrel with other trash, and they are likely to take fire. The storehouses 
where rags are sorted and packed are very likely to be destroyed by 
spontaneous combustion. 

Things may get so hot that they will burn even when there is no 
grease on them, and when they are not near a stove or flame. New 
mown hay often becomes so hot that it burns the barn where it is kept. 
A few barns have been burned by grain and meal getting hot. 

Icehouses sometimes burn from the heating of the sawdust in which 
the ice is packed, or the sawdust used to fill the walls of the icehouse. 
Perhaps the grease from the mill machinery gets into the sawdust and 
causes some of these fires. It may seem strange, but some things are 
most likely to burn themselves when they are soaked with water. 


LESSON NO. 17. 

Gasolene Used in Washing 

BURNS MANY WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 

Every week there are at least twenty persons burned to death by the 
careless use of gasolene, and three times as many are dangerously burned. 
Gasolene burns are so deep that they leave ugly scars. 

Every day some house is set afire by the careless use of gasolene. 
Usually the fire department arrives in time to prevent the house burning 
down but the loss from such fires is more than $3,800,000 in a year. Gas¬ 
olene is the most dangerous part of petroleum. Naptha is only a little 
less dangerous and is usually called gasolene. 

Gasolene gives off a vapor all the time. When eleven-twelfths of 
a.room is filled with air and one-twelfth of it is filled with gasolene vapor 
there is greater danger than if the room were filled with gunpowder. 
Air with that much gasolene vapor in it explodes harder and makes a 
hotter blaze than gunpowder. Gunpowder will stay where we place it 
and gasolene vapor is heavier than air and it falls to the floor and is 
moved about by drafts of air. Gasolene vapor is a gas and cannot be 
seen. 

IT WRECKS HOUSES. 

If a panful of gasolene is left in a closed room for a few hours, 
the house is blown to pieces as soon as a match is struck in the room. 
The vapor on the floor spreads until it gets under a gas jet, or lamp, 
or stove, and then it is drawn up by the current of air which is made 
by the heat of the blaze. An explosion follows. Vapor without air 
mixed with it cannot explode. In a laundry a man poured a barrel 
of gasolene through a pipe into an underground tank. He did not first 
open the pipe that would let the air out from the tank. All the air in 
the tank has to bubble up through the pipe down which the gasolene 
was poured. Of course this air was full of gasolene vapor. It spread 
through two rooms and into a door of the engine room where it reached 
the fire under the boiler. The explosion knocked down two walls of 
the brick building, burned a man to death and badly burned a woman. 

CLEANING GLOVES AND RIBBONS. 

When people wish to clean the grease from leather, wool and silk 
they often use gasolene which melts the grease and carries it away. 

( 43 ) 


44 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 


Gasolene should never be used for cleaning (or anything else) 
in a room where there is a candle, lamp or fire. A lighted cigar or pipe 
carried into a room in which gasolene is being used will explode the air 
in it. The vapor will hunt for fire. It is not safe to use it for cleaning, 
even on a porch. A beautiful girl of fifteen cleaned her long kid gloves 
and had them on her hands drying. Her brother struck a match to light 
a cigar as he came out on the porch. An explosion followed and one 
of the poor girl’s arms was so deeply burned that she never can-straighten 
it. Her face will always be scarred by the terrible burns she received. 
The skin and flesh came from her arms when the gloves were taken off 
but the gloves were not hurt. 

A man who had a pipe in his mouth while pouring gasolene from 
one can to another was badly burned by an explosion. A spark from 
a piece of iron which a blacksmith struck fell into a can of gasolene 
and an explosion followed. The shop was burned. 

Gasolene should only be used for cleaning in out-of-door places, 
away from buildings and smokers. The dirty gasolene should be thrown 
on loose ground which will drink it up. Several explosions have come 
from throwing the dirty gasolene down the hole in the sink. A large 
number of explosions have come from pouring it into the slop bucket 
where it floats, giving off vapor. 

Explosions are sure to follow when gasolene is put in the water in 
the wash boiler. 

Silk in dresses, ribbons or gloves may make a spark if rubbed hard ; 
this spark will fire gasolene. A lady in Elyria cleaned with gasolene 
a pair of silk gloves while they were on her hands. A spark of electricity 
came from her rubbing and the gasolene vapor exploded. 

Benzine soap should be used instead of gasolene for cleaning grease 
spots. 


LESSON NO. 18. 


Gasolene Stoves 

SHORTEN WORK AND MAY SHORTEN LIFE. 

A gasolene stove makes easy work for the cook, but nothing, in com¬ 
mon use, is so dangerous to have in your home. 

In the United States every year nearly 3,000 homes are burned, more 
than 3,800 persons are badly scarred and at least 500 are roasted to death 
because of the careless use of gasolene in stoves. A new stove is safe, 
if care is used in filling it and in turning the valves. The valves shut off 
the supply of gasolene to the burners. The can above the stove is called 
the “tank.” The opening through which the tank is filled must be kept 
tightly closed at all times. 

IMPORTANT DOn’tS. 

Don’t fill the tank which stands above the stove while a burner is 
lighted. The vapor of the gasolene will reach the blaze and a flash will 
follow.. The room will soon be filled with flames for the one filling the 
tank will be frightened by the flash and will spill more gasolene. 

Don’t fill the tank quite full. When gasolene is warm it swells 
enough to open a seam in the tank. 

Don’t fail to turn off the gasolene from the burners before filling 
the tank. Gasolene leaking through the burners makes a vapor which 
will explode when you strike a match to light the stove. 

Don’t allow too much fluid to flow into the burner. Don’t fail to 
close it tightly when you no longer need the fire. 

Don’t keep the gasolene can in the kitchen. It is not safe to keep it 
anywhere in the house, but the kitchen is the worst place for it. 

Don’t pour gasolene into anything in a room where there is a fire or 
light. You cannot see the vapor of gasolene, but it will be there and it 
will be drawn to any fire, lamp, candle or gas jet that is near. 

Don’t fail to watch closely for leaks in the tank or burner. Gasolene 
is thinner than water and can leak through a smaller hole than water can. 
It does not make a wet spot—as water does—when it leaks through a 
small hole. It forms vapor as fast as it comes through the hole. 

GREAT DANGER IN FILLING. 

Don’t spill gasolene, for it is more dangerous than powder. Three- 
fourths of the stove explosions happen while the tank is being filled. 

( 45 ) 


46 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 


A farmer near South Lebanon filled the tank of a gasolene stove by 
the light of a lantern. The vapor exploded and set fire to his clothing. 
Neighbors wrapped him in wet blankets to put out the flames and then 
carried him, unconscious, into the house. He died two hours later. 

Don’t keep gasolene in a jug or can that holds more than two gallons. 
You cannot pour it from larger jugs or cans without spilling it. 

Don’t leave a gasolene can open. Vapor will be drawn out from it. 

Gasolene vapor takes up 130 times as much room as the gasolene 
from which it comes. This vapor makes a large amount of air an 
explosive gas which will take fire from a blaze or spark and explode 
dangerously. 

DIFFERENT KINDS OF STOVES. 

It is dangerous to use the kind of a stove that can be filled while the 
burners are alight. It is not safe to fill a tank over a stove that has just 
been used. If the gasolene splashes on a hot burner, a flash will follow. 
A lady was frightened by such a flash and she set the two gallon can 
on the hot stove and ran screaming for help. The house took fire. 

The tank of every gasolene stove should be placed on the outside 
of the wall of the building; there the heat from the stove cannot burst 
it and there vapor from a leak would be safely carried away. - 

The stove must be fastened to the floor, away from anything that 
might burn. The small stove must not be set on a box, a shelf, or a 
barrel-head. All gasolene stoves should be made of metal on the bottom 
and three sides, so things easily burned cannot get into them. The 
main burner grates should be at least two feet above the floor. 

If you smell leaking gasolene, ooen the doors and windows. Look 
for the leak with your nose and fingers. .If you strike a match you 
may be blown up. 


LESSON NO. 19. 

Gasolene for Lights and Other Uses; 

HOW TO STOP IT BURNING. 

The most dangerous way of lighting a house is by the use of gaso¬ 
lene lamps. 

Even well-made gasolene lamps are not safe because gasolene is 
always a dangerous thing to have in the house. A good lamp may be 
upset or broken, spilling the gasolene. Some one may try to fill it 
while it is burning or the wick-tube may not be screwed down. The 
can may be upset or left uncorked or the gasolene may be used to start 
a fire. A gasolene lamp must not be carried about. Gasolene, at all 
times, gives off a vapor which mixes with the air and makes an explosive. 

If the gasolene in the tank of a lamp or stove takes fire, carry it 
out of doors if possible. Walk backward carefully as you carry it so 
that the flame will be drawn away from you. 

The gasolene lamp which is hung on posts in markets is not so 
dangerous as the kind used in houses. Being out of doors so much air 
moves past it that there is not vapor enough to make all the air explo¬ 
sive. But there are some lamps for out-door use which have a rubber 
bulb or air pump which forces the gasolene to come out faster than it 
does in the common out-door lamp. These lamps with rubber bulbs 
are twenty times more dangerous, because they will spray gasolene into 
the air through a leak or a burner that is left open. 

CARBURETERS. 

Many houses and stores are now well lighted by gasolene vapor 
made in machines outside of the house and burned in a mantel like 
natural gas. 

While other gases rise and are carried away the vapor of gasolene 
sinks to the floor and waits for a spark or light to explode it. It is 
the most dangerous gas you can use in a house. 

Some small machines for making gas from gasolene are put inside 
the house and the gasolene must be brought in, too. Such machines 
are far more dangerous than those placed outside the houses. If you 
try to fill one of these machines at night you will be blown up by the 
vapor reaching the light which you are using. 

AUTOMOBILES AND GARAGES. 

Explosions of gasolene destroy many automobiles and “garages” as 
W(e call the barns in which they are kept. Many more automobiles are 

( 47 ) 


48 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 


driven by gasolene than by electricity. A small leak from the tank under 
the automobile may let gasolene or its vapor come out. This vapor may 
be exploded by a match being scratched or stepped upon; by a cigar or 
cigarette stub; by a lantern light. Gasolene vapor may be ignited by 
filling the tank while the lamps of the machine are lighted. A spark 
from an electric wire or from striking iron with a hammer will cause a 
gasolene explosion. 

GASOLENE ENGINES AND TORCHES. 

Gasolene is the cheapest fuel for running small engines, which 
many farmers now use for grinding “feed/' shelling corn, pumping 
water and making butter. Plows, reapers, sewing machines and grind¬ 
stones can be driven by these engines. The only fire danger from them 
is from having the gasolene about. 

The torches used by painters, plumbers and tinners for heating 
metals are very dangerous. Workmen using them burn over 800 build¬ 
ings in the United States every year. Sometimes these lamps explode 
and kill the workmen. 

Fifteen kinds of liquid stove polish and several kinds of furniture 
polish, mixed with gasolene, are now sold. They are very dangerous 
and may be known by their odor. 

USING THE WRONG CAN. 

Many sad accidents come from mistaking gasolene for kerosene or 
water. Sometimes the store-keeper fills the kerosene can from the gas¬ 
olene tank. 

A mother brought gasolene from the grocery in a tin bucket. Her 
daughter thought it was a pail of water and filled the coffee pot with it. 
An explosion followed and the girl was burned to death. 

Some peddlers go from house to house trying to sell a “safety” or 
“magic powder.” They say this powder will make a barrel of gasolene 
as safe as a barrel of vinegar. They are frauds. You cannot add any¬ 
thing to gasolene which will make it safe. Anything which will make 
it safe, will also make it useless. 

PUTTING OUT GASOLENE FIRES. 

A small gasolene fire can be put out by smothering it with wet rags, 
woolen cloth, sand or ashes. Flour will smother it at once and the flour- 
barrel is usually near by. If a large amount of gasolene is burning, 
throw a great deal of water upon it to shut off the air from it. A little 
water only spreads the flame for gasolene floats on water. 

If burning gasolene is boiling or flowing from a can or tank and it 
cannot be carried outside, it should be cooled with plenty of water and 
allowed to burn itself out. 


LESSON NO. 20. 


Fires from Killing Insects. 

INUDSTRIAL ALCOHOL AND PLAYING CHILDREN. 

Many fires are started by house-keepers who use gasolene to get 
rid of bugs. These bugs live and raise families in the cracks in bed¬ 
steads, in floors, behind baseboards and under wall paper. 

Usually the fires come from splashing the gasolene about and then 
after it has given off its vapor, striking a match to light some dark crack. 
Sometimes the gasolene is used at night with a lamp to give light. When 
the vapor of the gasolene reaches the match flame or the lamp flame 
there is an explosion which fires the house. 

To get rid of any insect pest we must know its habits. 

THE STORY OF THE BUG. 

The bed bug is one of a family of twelve bugs; its eleven brothers 
and sisters live in the nests of birds, especially the nests of swallows. 
Perhaps you have heard the funny rhyme which tells us that “The bed 
bug has no wings at allbut this was not always true. When it “worked 
for a living” it had wings but when we do not use our gifts they are 
taken away. The bed bug stopped flying and began to live on the blood 
of man; then it lost its wings and became flat enough to crawl into very 
small cracks. It can live for months without food. In reaching full 
growth it has five shells—one after another. It needs only one meal 
for each new shell and it can get that meal if the person whose blood it 
drinks is at home one night in each of eight weeks. 

Each mother bed bug lays several bunches of 12 to 50 eggs. You 
can almost see through the new bugs until they get brown from drinking 
the blood of people. The odor of bed bugs is unpleasant to birds and 
they will not eat them. The bed bugs are safe in birds’ nests for this 
reason. 

Explosions of gasolene which was being used to kill bed bugs fired 
many houses every summer. In one state five persons were badly burned 
and four were burned to death; two of them were children who were 
helping their mother. 

INDUSTRIAL ALCOHOL. 

Every man who makes alcohol from corn, wheat, or potatoes must 
pay the government tax of two dollars a gallon on it, if it is to be used 

4 ( 49 ) 


50 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 


in making whiskey. If lie asks a government officer to put wood alcohol 
in it so it can’t be used in making anything to drink, he doesn’t have to 
pay the two dollars a gallon. When he does not have the tax to pay he 
can afford to sell this “industrial” alcohol at twenty-five cents a gallon. 

When alcohol is made at that low price it will take the place of 
gasolene for many uses. Then the loss of homes and of lives from 
gasolene explosions will be very much less. Any one who drinks in¬ 
dustrial alcohol dies or is made blind by the wood alcohol in it. 

Alcohol gives off a vapor, but it rises and is carried away by the 
air. The vapor of gasolene waits for a blaze to explode it. Burning 
alcohol is put out if water is thrown on it. Burning gasolene is spread 
by throwing water on it. 


PLAYING WITH FIRE. 

In the autumn the dead leaves should be hauled away. If they are 
burned in the city streets, sparks from them start dangerous fires. Bon¬ 
fires of leaves injure the pavements, frighten horses and sometimes set 
fire to the clothing of children. 

In a Lorain newspaper w,e read of a little girl who was playing with 
a group of friends about a bonfire. Her clothes caught fire and she was 
covered by a mass of flames. Her mother heard her scream and ran to 
her aid; she put out the flames but not until her child’s body was terribly 
burned from head to foot. The little girl died that evening at the hospital 
after great suffering. 

If girls play near open grates their skirts or aprons are likely to be 
drawn to the fire and set ablaze. While playing “little old woman” a 
girl of six stood upon a chair to reach a penny on the mantel. The 
long apron she wore was drawn into the fire. Before she could get 
down from the chair her clothes were flaming. A lady hearing her 
screams came quickly and wrapped a rug around her. But it was too 
late; the burns were so deep that she soon died. 

Playing with gunpowder or kerosene is very dangerous. Children 
who play with fire nearly always burn either their homes or themselves. 


LESSON NO. 21. 


Acetylene, 

THE GAS FROM CALCIUM CARBIDE. 

The flame from acetylene makes a perfect light, brilliant and color¬ 
less like that of the sun. Few houses are lighted with it because the 
first machines used for making it were so poor that many of them ex¬ 
ploded, killing people. At that time the acetylene was squeezed into 
tubes, so 400 feet of gas was in one foot of space. These tubes which 
were five feet long and five inches across were sent to houses for use. 
They were found to be more dangerous than dynamite bombs because 
they exploded if struck hard. 

Now there are many machines which are safe enough if they are 
given good care and kept outside the house. 

Air containing one-thirtieth as much acetylene explodes with much 
greater force than gun powder. It takes more than twice as much of 
any other gas to make air an explosive. 

Calcium carbide is seven-twelfths quick lime and five-twelfths coke, 
ground, mixed and baked together in an electric arc furnace at a heat 
of 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The greatest heat ever known in solid 
fuel furnaces is 3,000 degrees. After cooling it is crushed into small 
lumps and packed in metal cans, holding 100 pounds or in one pound 
packages for bicycles. Carbide cannot burn but will become red hot and 
fire wood near it if it gets damp, and if water gets to it the lime slakes 
and the carbon of the coke joins with the hydrogen of the water to make 
the lighting gas, acetylene. Because of this, carbide should not be kept 
in the house, although the small packages used for bicycle lamps have 
given little or no trouble. 

THE GENERATOR. 

Generators, as the machines for making acetylene are called, of 
the size used for farm houses, are zinc tanks which hold about a barrel. 
In them carbide and water are brought together and acetylene and 
slaked lime are formed. The gas passes into a tank, more than double 
the size of the generator, which is shaped like the big tank for city gas, 
having at the bottom a seal of water to-keep the gas from getting out. 
In nearly all generators the carbide is shaken down into water a little 
at a time by a clock mechanism. In the other machines water is fed 
to'the carbide drop by drop. It is best to feed the carbide to the 
water because the large amount of water keeps the generator from being 
made hot enough to explode. 


( 51 ) 


52 


Dangers and chemistry of fire. 


THE AREA OF DANGER. 

The danger is near the generator. The gas may escape from sL 
hole in a tube or from the opening of a seam caused by the water 
freezing. A number of deadly accidents have come from persons who 
were cleaning the generator striking a match to see if the work were 
well done. If the generator is outside there is little or no danger of an 
explosion in the house lighted by it. The holes in the burners are too 
small for the finest sewing needle to enter. So, if all the burners in the 
room were opened there would be no danger. Ten times as much city 
gas would pass through an open burner. 

THE NOSE GIVES NOTICE. 

Acetylene always lets one know when it is leaking. It has so 
strong an odor that one part of it in ten thousand parts of air gives notice 
to the nose that it is there. Then generator maker says the odor is like 
that of garlic. The farmer boy would say that acetylene protected itself 
against being fired by the same means that the polecat protects itself 
from being fired at. 

Another fact in favor of this new gas is, that the amount of it 
needed to make a light has but one-sixth the explosive power of enough 
city gas to make the same light. 

ACETYLENE VS. GASOLENE PLANTS. 

The advantages of acetylene over gasolene vapor are: 

A much smaller quantity is used to make the same light. 

The flame gives off less heat and poisons the air less. 

The light from it is white, so it does not distort colors in the eye 
of the sewing woman. 

Its odor betrays a leak before a dangerous amount of gas has escaped. 

It is so light that it is carried away rapidly while gasolene vapor 
loafs around. 

Gasolene in one way is better than acetylene. A flame is needed 
to explode gasolene vapor, while a soldering iron or any red hot metal, 
a pipe or a glowing coal or match stick will explode acetylene. 

Should an acetylene generator or gasolene carbureter be placed 
inside the home? The fire marshal cannot advise it. The water In an 
acetylene machine will freeze if put in a building that is not warmed. 
Then there is a temptation to build a fire near it, or to thaw out the 
water seal with hot irons, both of which are dangerous. 

In farm houses and churches generators are usually placed in the 
cellar, and explosions may come from leaking gas being ignited from an 
open flame of some sort. 


FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


53 


Acetylene hand lamps are now made, and it is coming into use for 
light-houses, search lights, headlights and for lighting railway wrecks 
at night. The great heat of its flame has led to its use for welding 
heavy iron. 

Everyone has noticed the little tank on the step of an automobile. 
It is filled with asbestos dampened with acetone which takes a large 
bulk of the acetylene, used in the lamps of the machine. 


LESSON NO. 22. 


Garrets, Bedrooms and Closets. 

THE DANGERS TO BE HUNTED. 

There would not be so many fires if we would use our eyes and 
brains. 

We should look carefully at our chimneys where they pass through 
the garret. If the foundation of the chimney has settled there may be 
cracks in the chimney, and the mortar may fall out, leaving a hole. 
Sparks come out through cracks in the chimney and they set fire to any 
old stuff that may be stored in the garret, or attic. The summer sun 
shining on the roof may, by its heat, set fire to greasy rags or clothing 
hanging in the attic. The chimneys send out so much heat in Winter that 
they may make greasy, or oily things near them burst into flame. 

A garret is always hot. There should be openings for cool air to 
pass through. All the rough wood in the garret should be whitewashed 
or painted so that the fuzz on the wood would not take fire from sparks. 

THE BEDROOM. 

The joints of the stovepipe should be riveted together and the stove¬ 
pipe must fit closely both the stove and the chimney-hole. The stove¬ 
pipe should be six inches or more away from any wood. There should 
be a tight-fitting double collar of tin or sheet-iron around it. 

Remember: Chimney-holes when not in use should never be left 
open. They should not be stuffed with paper or rags. They should not 
be covered with wall-paper. They should always be closed tightly with 
a sheet-iron stopper. See that the stove-pipe and chimney-holes in your 
bedrooms (and other rooms) are all in good shape, if you do not wish 
your home to burn. 

GAS JETS. 

Gas jets should have globes or wire cages around them, if they are 
made to swing around. If they do not have something to keep the flame 
away from the curtains and the furniture or clothing, there will surely 
be fires. 

Gas jets should not be near windows or doors; the wind might blow 
the flame out and the gas would escape and choke the people sleeping 
in the room. If there were another light in the room, the gas would 

( 54 ) 


FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


55 


reach that flame and then there would be an explosion. A gas jet should 
not be placed nearer the ceiling than two and one-half feet. 

If electric lights hang from cords, do not tie or knot the cords or 
hang them over nails or hooks. Do not have electric light bulbs neai 
anything that will burn easily. 

A gas stove used in a bed-room, should have a pipe running to the 
chimney. When gas is burned in a stove that has no chimney it is sure 
to injure the health of those who sleep near it. If turned high it may 
choke or suffocate them. 

The use of a rubber tube to carry gas to a stove, is very dangerous, 
because it is likely to come off and cause an explosion. 

CLOTHES CLOSETS. 

Most closets have no openings or windows through which the air 
can move or carry away heat. When the heat cannot pass off, greasy 
rags, aprons, overalls, oil or paint kept in the closets may take fire. We 
should never light a match to use in hunting for something in a closet. 
The match heads may fly off, or the hot match sticks may drop and set 
fire to the clothing hanging there. 

The most dangerous closet is the one under a stairway. If such 
a closet is on fire, the people can not come safely down the stairs from 
the rooms above. Never put ashes in a closet. Hot ashes cause many 
terrible fires. 


Only a little match-head, 

Dropped on the closet floor; 
Only a little apron, 

Hanging beside the door; 

Only a little creeping, 

Up to the apron-strings ; 

Only a home in ashes ! 

Think of these “little” things! 


LESSON NO. 23. 

Common Fire Dangers 

IN KITCHENS AND CELLARS. 

More than half the fires that burn houses start in the kitchens. The 
cook stoves are fed too much and the wood of the floor and walls near 
the stoves is not protected. A kitchen stove may set afire a bare wooden 
wall three feet away from it. It is safe to place the stove a foot away 
from the wall, if the wall is covered with a sheet of tin, zinc or iron. 
The sheet of metal must not be tacked against the wood. It must be hung 
on screw hooks a half-inch away from the wall to allow the air to get 
behind it and carry away the heat. If the elbow of the stovepipe is 
within a foot of the ceiling, there is danger of fire unless the ceiling is 
covered by a sheet of metal. 


THE FLOOR. 

The floor under the stove should be covered by a sheet of metal 
large enough to come out a foot beyond the ash pan and a foot beyond 
the door through which the wood is put into a wood stove. 

Do not hang clothes very near to a stove when you wish to dry or 
air them. Do not leave kindling near the stove to dry. It is wise to keep 
things that will burn easily away from stoves. 

A gasolene stove should be closed on three sides and its burners 
should be at least two feet from the floor. 


THE PANTRY. 

The flame from a jointed gas bracket may be swung around against 
the pantry wall and start a fire. It may be swung against the paper used 
to cover a shelf, and set fire to it. If jointed brackets must be used, 
the flame should have a globe around it in every case and even then care 
must be taken that it is not swung near wood, paper, etc. 

The kerosene can should not be kept within fifteen feet of the stove, 
and the gasolene can should not be kept anywhere in the kitchen, or 
pantry. Indeed, there is no safe place for a gasolene can except under¬ 
ground, and it is unsafe even there if it is not tightly corked. 


FOUND IN CELLARS. 


The double-jointed swinging gas fixture causes many of the fires 
that start in cellars; it is so easy to swing it against something that will 

( 56 ) 



FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


57 


burn. The worst fire dangers, common in cellars, are from the top of 
the furnace being too near the floor above it and the pipes being too 
close to the wood of the building. Charred wood near a furnace should 
be cut away, because it will burn very readily, and then the wood remain¬ 
ing should be covered by a sheet of metal, fastened so that the air can 
pass between it and the wood. When a furnace is put in place, care 
should be taken to have it a safe distance from all woodwork. 

Warm air flues should have a collar around them, where they pass 
through a floor because they become hot enough to set the wood afire. 
If trash is thrown on the furnace top, it may start a fire. Gas jets should 
be as much as two and one-half feet below the ceiling or have above them 
a shield of tin. The tin should not rest flat against the wood. 

USING MATCHES. 

Do not use matches while getting something from a dark cellar. If 
there is no gas in the cellar, there should be a coal oil lamp fixed safely 
in a bracket. Cellar windows should be covered by wire screens, so that 
cigar stubs, fire-crackers, and glowing match sticks cannot be thrown into 
the cellar by careless persons. 

If ashes are moist or mixed with greasy rubbish, they are liable to 
set fire to themselves. If kept in the cellar, they may set the house afire. 

Use your nose — not a light — to learn if gas is coming in beside the 
pipe from the street. 

One-sixth of all the gas put in the big pipes in the streets leaks out 
under the pavement. It is likely to get into the cellars through the loose 
earth around the house pipes. When this gas reaches a blaze it will 
explode, killing people and destroying buildings. 


LESSON NO. 24. 

Fire Song 

(Tune of “Marching Through Georgia.”) 

1. Listen to my story old — my mission well you know: 

I warm you with my balmy breath, when chilly breezes blow. 

The Spirit of the Flame am I, God’s gift to man below — 
Blessing or bane, as ye make me. 

First Chorus. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Your servant true Til be, 

But O beware! From all abuse Til flee! 

Tour homes I’ll turn to ashes, while I laugh aloud with glee — 
“Blessing or bane, as ye make me!” 

2. I’m the King of Fireland — my subjects love my sway; 

I hide within the matches; in the glowing embers play; 

I warm the little fingers on a frosty winter day — 

Blessing or bane, as ye make me! 

Second Chorus. 

Rejoice! Rejoice! Of service true I sing, 

But O beware, lest cruel Death I bring! 

To ev’ry wind of heaven I would now this warning fling:— 
“Blessing or bane, as ye make me!” 

3. I’m the King of Fireland — my scepter’s tipped with flame. 

I stretch it forth, and things I touch are nevermore the same; 
Imprison me near the walls of wood, and ye must bear the blame 
Blessing or bane, as ye make me! 

Use 2d chorus here. 

4. I’m the King of Fireland — my touch all things can change; 

For Oil and Gasolene I have a longing passing strange; 

I care not who may perish; when they come within my range — 
Blessing or bane, as ye make me! 

Use 2d chorus here. 

5. I’m the King of Fireland — I leap across the wires ; 

In “circuits short” I make my rounds, and kindle mighty fires, 
With tiniest bit of match-heads I can light my fun’ral pyres — 
Blessing or bane, as ye make me! 

Use 2d chorus here. 


( 58 ) 


LESSON NO. 25. 

Village Church Fires 

THE TOSS USUALLY TOTAL. 

Because people are careless, more than 400 churches are burned in 
America every year. It takes more than $2,000,000 worth of work to 
build them again. 

The churches in small towns and in the country are nearly all made 
of wood. The walls are made by standing pieces of wood on end and 
nailing boards on the outside and laths to hold the plaster on the inside. 
You see that such a wall would be very much like a row of wooden 
chimneys. A fire started anywhere in the wall is drawn up under the 
roof by one of these chimneys. There are no partitions to hold back the 
fire until people can get there to put it out. In most cases water must 
be carried some distance. If there is a spire, it acts like a chimney to 
make the fire burn faster. If a fire is started, the building is burned to 
the ground. 

More than half of all these churches are burned by carelessness with 
stoves and flues. 

CARING FOR THE STOVES. 

These churches are usually warmed by “cannon” or “burnside” 
stoves which burn coal. There are few “box” stoves in which wood is 
used. Any church stove which stands on a floor of wood should have 
under it a sheet of tin or zinc, big enough to come out two feet farther 
than its feet do. The coal-box, if made of wood, should be kept two 
feet away from the stove. 

The stovepipe gives a great deal of heat if there is not a coat of 
soot in it. Pipes and stoves should be cleaned of soot twice in each win¬ 
ter. Soot holds heat in better than a feather bed. 

Someone should see to it that the inside of the stovepipes are scraped 
every autumn before cold weather comes. There are likely to be spots 
of rust in stovepipes when the stoves are not used during the summer. 
When these rusted spots drop out of the pipes they leave holes through 
which sparks can fly. 

Jarring or beating or even scrubbing will not clean a pipe well. 
It must be scraped. 

THE CHURCH CHIMNEYS. 

All chimneys should start on the ground. A chimney which is built 
upon a board or stone put on top of the joists in the ceiling is not a 

( 59 ) 


60 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 


safe chimney. It is dangerous because the joists may twist and the 
chimney may be cracked so that sparks can get out into the attic. The 
stovepipe must not run through a space above the ceiling where it can 
not be seen for that is never safe. 

After the janitor of a church has started the fires he may go away 
and if the stoves and flues are not good the church may burn down. 
Very often the janitor leaves as soon as the service is ended and no 
one is there to put out any fire which may start while the room is cooling, 

LIGHTING RURAL CHURCHES. 

There is little danger from kerosene oil lamps, if they are fastened 
to the wall, except the danger of their exploding. If the wick does not 
fill the wick tube, the flame may set fire to the gas that forms within 
the lamp bowl and there may be an explosion. A dirty burner is always 
dangerous. If the brass is not right air cannot carry ofif the heat from 
it. It then becomes so hot that gas is formed, which bursts the bowl. 

ACETYLENE LIGHTS. 

The acetylene machine gives churches a beautiful white light and it 
is cheaper than gas, but is dangerous if badly handled. The danger 
is near the machine, which should be kept in a brick house outside the 
church. One part of acetylene mixed with thirty-three times as much air 
makes an explosive but this gas cannot get into the church fast enough 
to do any harm because the holes in the burners are so small. 


GASOLENE FOR LIGHTING. 

Gasolene lighting machines give light that is cheap and they are 
safe for country churches when they are kept in brick houses outside 
the churches and are carefully treated. The machine must be set low 
enough to let the pipes slope upward into the church so that gasolene 
cannot run in them. A machine which takes the gasolene into the build¬ 
ing is not safe. 

More country churches are burned by lightning than by anything else 
except the heater. Every church spire or belfry should have a lightning 
rod on it. The rod should be examined before thunder storms begin in 
the spring to see if it has been hurt in any way. 


LESSON NO. 2 6 . 


The Burning of City Churches. 

HOW THEY SHOULD BE PROTECTED. 

The number of churches burned in the United States each year is 
about 600 and the loss of money from these fires is more than two 
million dollars. Heaters, lightning strokes and spite are the three great 
causes of church fires. 

Sometimes there is loss of life from a fire in a church. More of 
these deaths come from people getting jammed in doorways or stair¬ 
ways than from being burned. To let the people out safe all church 
doors should swing out toward the street and stairs to galleries should 
be straight, wide and not steep. 

THE FURNACE AND FLUES. 

The greatest number of church fires start from the furnace or its 
pipes. In many buildings the top of the furnace is too near the floor 
above it. In others, pipes which carry hot air into the church above, 
touch the wood of the floor. If the wood over a furnace or near a flue 
or pipe is charred, a piece of tin or zinc must be put between the charred 
spot and the furnace. It must not be nailed against the charred board 
because there should be room for air to pass between them to carry 
away the heat. The charcoal formed on the face of a board by its being 
kept too hot, will suck in any kind of gas. It will take in 35 times its 
bulk of natural gas. If it does this it will take fire the next time it 
is heated. If this charred wood gets wet, it may take fire when heat 
dries it. If grease gets on it there will surely be a fire the next Sunday. 

STEAM HEATING. 

A steam pipe against wood will char it and then set fire to the char¬ 
coal it has made. It may seem strange that steam, which is water in the 
form of vapor, can make anything burn. But it is true that steam, or 
heated air, may make a pipe red hot. So wood must not come within half 
a foot of a furnace pipe and all such pipes should be wrapped with 
some thing which will not burn. Painting a tube black makes it give 
out more heat. 

LIGHTING. 

The greatest danger from gas lights in churches is from the gas 
brackets which have joints in them, because they can be moved to one 

( 61 ) 


62 


DANGERS AND CHEMISTRY OF FIRE. 


side so that the flame of the gas may touch wood. These are often put in 
the cellar and are sometimes used to make light near the organ. The 
lights in them should be covered by globes. Really, there is no place, 
in which a light is needed, that a swinging gas bracket is safe. The 
number of churches burned by them is greater than the number burned 
by the explosion of gas from leaks. 

The electric light is fine for churches but too often the wires are 
put in badly, so the electricity may jump from one of them to another, 
or to a pipe which runs to the ground. Electricity in jumping makes 
a heat which will burn not only wood but iron. Many large buildings 
have been burned by wires being put in wrong. 

Christmas trees in churches often take fire from the wax candles 
used to light them. This may not'set the building afire but nearly always 
some persons are badly hurt in the mad rush made to get out. 

Some churches have been burned by the use of a stove for cooking 
during a festival. 

PROTECTING CHURCHES. 

The people who own a fine church can well afford to buy water 
buckets and keep them, filled with water, where they can be gotten 
quickly when a fire starts. Still better, they might have several chemical 
extinguishers. These extinguishers are slim barrels of metal with a small 
hose at one end, and are often seen in the big stores. With one of them 
a man can throw water higher than he can with a bucket and the gas in 
them, which forces the water out, is of a kind that smothers fire. 

A pipe organ burns easily, quickly and with a great heat. 

In nearly all big churches one may find in the basement under a 
stair, or in a box, paint, oil or greasy rags which may at any time set 
themselves afire. 

Lightning rarely strikes the high office buildings of cities, but a tall 
church steeple is liable to stroke, so it should have a lightning rod on it. 

One in six of all city churches burned takes fire from the burning 
of a building near it. In more than half of these the fire catches at a 
window. The heat from the burning building cracks the glass in the 
church window so pieces of it fall out. Then the blaze gets in. So, 
church windows should be made with metal sash and wired glass. This 
glass is made with wire woven like that used for chicken coops, but with 
smaller holes, put in the center of the pane when the glass is made. The 
wires keep pieces of the glass from falling out when it is cracked by heat. 

The roof should be of slate, tile, iron or gravel. Doors which open 
near other buildings should be covered with tin. The trimming at the 
eaves should be of metal. 

Punishment for carelessness about fire dangers falls alike on the just 
and on the unjust. 


LESSON NO. 27. 


Electricity. 

LIGHTING WITH INCANDESCENT LAMPS. 

Electricity causes light, heat, motion and lightning. We can not 
weigh it, but we can make it and measure it with machines. We call 
it a fluid only because it flows. We burn coal to heat water and change 
it into steam and the steam moves an engine. The engine moves a coil 
of copper wire near a magnet. This makes a current called electricity 
to move in the wires. The machine which changes motion into electricity 
is a dynamo. 

An engine makes a dynamo turn, causing electricity to travel on a 
wire. At the other end of the wire the electricity makes a motor turn. 
A dynamo makes electricity and a motor uses it. A motor is a dynamo 
run backward. The moving of a machine makes electricity at one end 
of a wire, which runs a motor at the other end and the electricity is 
changed back to motion in the wheels of a street car or the machines 
in a factory. 

Electricity flows through copper or iron very easily. It cannot move 
easily through the air and it cannot move at all through glass or por¬ 
celain. It is such hard work for electricity to go through the air that it 
makes the air white-hot where it passes. It is the streak of white-hot 
air that we see and call lightning. The noise the bolt of electricity makes 
when it forces its way through the air is what we call thunder. 

When electricity comes from a cloud to the earth it usually goes 
through a tree or a house, for it is easier for it to travel through wood 
than through air. The tree or house through which it passes is always 
shattered more or less by the effort the thunderbolt makes to get through. 
1 f the house has a good lightning rod of steel or copper on it, the electric¬ 
ity comes down that and does no harm. 

THE INCANDESCENT LAMP. 

It is safer to light your house with electricity than it is to light it 
with gas, kerosene or candles. You do not need matches, when you light 
with electricity and there is no blaze to set anything afire. But if the 
wires are not put in as they should be they get red-hot and start wood 
to burning. 

What causes the light from an electric lamp? 

( 63 ) 


64 


Dangers an!) chemistry of FiRfi. 


Within the bulb is a fine black thread called a filament. This thread 
has been heated until it is charcoal. At each end of the thread is a 
copper wire to carry a current of electricity. You will see that the 
electricity must pass through the charcoal and it is harder for it to get 
through charcoal than through a copper wire. It works so hard to get 
through that the thread within the lamp is made white-hot, and very 
bright. The thread in some of the new lamps is made from one of the 
rare metals. If air were left in the lamp of course the thread would 
be burned at once, but all of the air is pumped out through a small tube 
at the lower end of the bulb. When all the air is out this tube is melted 
off and that leaves the little point which you see on every globe. 

Only one-twentieth of the electricity used by an incandescent electric 
light lamp is changed into light. The rest is changed into 1 heat. So the 
bulb may become hot enough to burn anything that burns easily. A 
candle, gas jet, or kerosene lamp gives off ioo times as much heat as 
it does light. The common electric lamp makes as much light as six¬ 
teen candles. The larger size gives as much as thirty-two candles. 

If a common lighted lamp is placed against a pine board, it will char 
it in four hours. If two thicknesses of muslin or curtain stuff are 
wrapped around a 'lighted lamp, the goods will begin to smoke in three 
minutes. Cotton will char in ten minutes if placed against a lighted 
lamp and then a slight draft of air will set it afire. Newspaper chars in 
three minutes and takes fire in 45 minutes. 

THE HEAT OF THE LAMP. 

Celluloid combs and pins soon burn (with an explosion) if put 
against a lighted lamp. If a lighted lamp is placed in a pint of water, 
it will make the water boil in an hour. 

An electric lamp, or bulb, is useful for four months in cold weather 
or twice as long in warm weather when the evenings are short. After 
that it is cheaper to get a new lamp for it takes too much electricity to 
light the old one. When the lamp looks brownish you may know that 
you have used it long enough. 

When electrical lamps are placed so that the light from them goes 
straight into one’s eyes they must be frosted or eyes will be hurt. Plain 
lamps light a room much better than frosted lamps can light it. 

SHORT CIRCUITS. 

The wire running to the electric lamp and the one running away 
from it are usually close together. If the covering of the wires is worn 
off or wet where they are near together, the current will cross from one 
wire to the other instead of going around through the lamp to do its work. 
Then the wires become very hot — often so hot that they melt and set 


FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


65 


tire to anything near that will burn. In this way many houses are 
burned. This is called “a short circuit.” 

Many buildings are set afire by short circuits in the long cords from 
which some lamps are hung. Persons wet them or tie knots in them and 
hang them over nails and wooden corners until the covering is worn 
through and a short circuit forms. A short circuit will make the nail 
over which such a cord is hung red-hot and fire the wood around it. If 
long cords are used, persons are able to move the lamps around in many 
places. They niay be careless and move them against curtains or drap¬ 
eries which will be set afire. 





5 




LESSON NO. 28. 


Electrical Arc Lamps 

AND TROLLEY CARS IN CITY STREETS. 

Children who play with the wires of the incandescent electrical lamps 
may set the building afire. Children who play with wires outside the 
house are likely to be killed. 

Electricity is measured by the “volt.” Half a volt of electricity is 
needed for a telephone wire. It takes more strength to move a street 
car, so 500 volts are needed for that. It takes 6,500 volts for the street 
lamps of the city. The “ampere” is the measure of the amount of elec¬ 
tricity used in a building for making light, or~ for running machinery. 
The number of volts or ampere used is shown by a meter, which is 
read like a gas meter. 

The 110-volts of electricity put on the house wires may burn the 
skin, but will not shock one to death. The wires running to the street 
lamps carry much more, electricity than is needed to kill a person. The 
street lamp wires cross the house lamp wires in many places, and a house 
wire may swing against a street lamp wire, and thus get in it enough 
electricity to kill a person instantly. Any small wire may carry a killing 
charge of electricity. 

An Ohio boy used fine copper wire, instead of string, in flying his 
kite. The wire got across the street lamp wire, and the current of elec¬ 
tricity killed him. His mother tried to take the kite string from his hand, 
and she too was killed. 

ARCS. 

If a wire carrying electricity breaks, and the ends stay near each 
other, the electricity jumps across the space between. This is known as 
an arc. Nothing else on earth is so hot as an electric arc. It is about 
23 times as hot as boiling water. The electricity may jump from the 
middle of one wire to another, when the wires are too close. Many 
buildings are burned by arcs in wires. 

It is an arc in the street lamp that makes the light. The current has 
to jump from one end of the wire to the other, for the wire has a piece 
cut out of it, where it passes through the lamp. The heat would melt 
the ends of the wire, if tips of carbon were not put on them. Carbon 
does not melt. The upper carbon tip gets white-hot and makes the light. 
Electricity for street lighting travels out from the power house on the 
wire which runs through the lamps and back to the power house by the 
other wire. Light wires run in pairs and they are held on glass knobs. 
Electricity does not pass through glass. These knobs are called “in¬ 
sulators.” 


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FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


67 


STREET LAMPS. 

The glass globe around the street lamp keeps sparks from flying 
about and prevents moths and beetles burning themselves in the flame. 
The globe is frosted to make the light easier for the eyes. One of these 
lamps gives as much light as 2,000 candles. It costs about $80 a year to 
feed it with electricity and to put in new carbons. 

The new electric lamps which give a flood of bright yellow light are 
known as “flaming arcs.” The light given by the flaming arc is five times 
as great as that of the common street lamp. It is equal to the light of 
10,000 candles. 

GROUNDS. 

Electricity is always trying to return to Mother Earth. From a 
wire carrying it, it will run down to the earth, through any wire, iron rod 
or tin pipe which happens to touch the charged wire. It will*jump sev¬ 
eral inches to reach the earth. 

If lightning is traveling along the top wire of a fence, it will jump 
more than a foot to reach a cow because it can quickly get to the ground 
through her. A cow is two-thirds water and electricity can easily pass 
through water. . A man is also a good conductor for the same reason. 

When the electricity leaks from a wire into some metal it is called a 
“ground.” Grounds are common from wires touching gas and water 
pipes and other wires. A ground may easily make enough heat to set a 
building on fire. 

STREET CAR DANGERS. 

The electrical current for a street car passes down the trolley pole, 
through the controller which the motorman uses, to a motor under the 
car. From the motor it goes through the wheels to the rails. The force 
put in a trolley wire is never less than 500 volts. That is enough to kill 
a person who gets all of it. The current is the same on the third rail, 
which sometimes is used instead of the trolley wire. Each of the two 
motors under the car has the strength of 25 horses. 

The president of the street car company in an Indiana city was 
killed because he forgot how eager electricity is to reach the earth. He 
saw a broken trolley wire, and got a step-ladder and climbed it to bring 
the wire down. The moment he reached the ground the current passed 
through him killing him instantly and burning his body. A lightning 
flash along the telephone wire injured his wife severely while friends 
were telling her the sad news of his death. 

Most persons have been frightened by noise and jar from an explo¬ 
sion under a street car. There is no danger at all from that. If the 
current of electricity gets so strong that it is likely to hurt the motor a 
piece of soft wire burns with noise and smoke. This stops the elec¬ 
tricity. 


LESSON NO. 29. 


Telegraph and Telephone Wires 

MAY CARRY A DEADLY CURRENT. 

Telephone and telegraph wires do not carry currents of electricity 
strong enough to kill anyone; but at many street corners they cross elec¬ 
tric light and power wires. These light and power wires carry killing 
currents, and they often are on the same line of poles. 

If a small wire touches one that is carrying a.large load of elec¬ 
tricity, it is heated so hot that it will burn any wood it touches. So, any 
wire may start a fire that will burn a building. 

Telephone and telegraph wires may be broken off by the wind, or 
swaying limbs of trees. Then they may fall across light or power wires, 
which will put in them a current of electricity strong enough to kill any¬ 
one who may touch them. 

Do not touch any wire that you see hanging or lying about; you may 
be killed, or seriously burned. Boys (and “Tom boys”) should not climb 
a pole that carries wires. The ground wire, and the iron tube which 
covers the lower part of it, beside the pole, may carry a deadly current. 
A guy wire, used to-steady a pole, may be charged-with a load of elec¬ 
tricity five times as great as that needed to kill a boy. 

THE USE OF FUSES. 

A fuse is a piece of soft metal, like solder, which is put into every 
wire where it branches from the stem which feeds it. If the current 
gets too strong, from the dynamo working too hard, or from a short cir¬ 
cuit, or from the touch of another wire, this fuse melts out, and thus 
breaks the circuit. These fuses are needed in all wires, but are most 
needed in the wires in telegraph offices. Electricity from lightning miles 
away may come into these offices, and burn the instruments, or the build¬ 
ing. The same kind of fuses may be seen through the glass doors that 
cover the knife switches. By these knife switches light is turned on in 
different parts of factories and stores. 

TELEPHONES. 

The 85 million people in America have more telephones than the 
500 million people in Europe. 

The telephone saves far more property than it destroys; because 
everybody knows how to use it, to call the fire department. But a seri- 

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Dus shock may come through a telephone wire, if a wire carrying a strong 
current* of electricity touches it. At nearly every city street corner are 
telephone wires crossing under electric light wires, which carry 550 volts. 
If one of the telephone wires breaks, its loose ends are likely to touch 
these wires that carry strong currents. 

In Wapakoneta a lineman, having a telephone wire in his hand, let 
it touch the wire of an interurban line, and he was instantly killed. 

Telephone wires that are not being used should not be left on poles 
and houses. They may rust off, or be broken, and then they may fall 
across wires that will give them a deadly load of electricity. 

A boy in Toledo was working for the telephone company. In pull¬ 
ing an old wire to roll it up, he let it touch an electric light wire. He 
pitched forward against the curb. He died a few minutes after the doc¬ 
tor reached him. 

WIRES IN ALLEYS. 

Telephone poles sometimes carry as many as 250 wires. They 
usually are in alleys, and they must be cut before the linemen can put up 
their ladders, in case of fire. If one of these wires falls across a power 
wire, the firemen has to let the fire burn until the deadly current in the 
power wire is shut off. In some large cities the telephone wires are put 
under ground. 

While at a telephone it is not wise to touch another phone, or any 
metal connected with the earth, with the hand which is not in use. There 
is danger of a severe shock or a bad burn from getting the current 
through one’s hands. A lady in a railway office tried to use phones of 
different companies at the same time, and the current made a short cir¬ 
cuit through her arms, so that she could not let go of the phones. The 
station agent tore one of them from her grasp, releasing her from the 
current. 

The telephone should not be* used during a thunder-storm. Light¬ 
ning can come in on the wire. A lady of Shelby county was called by 
phone while it was storming. She was talking when lightning struck 
the telephone wire. The hair was burned from her head, and she was 
unconscious for several hours. 


Lesson no. 30. 

To Save Lives of Persons 

STUNNED BY ELECTRICITY. 

You have learned that electric light wires often fall on telegraph, 
telephone, messenger and fire alarm wires and charge them with enough 
electricity to kill the strongest man. Below all other wires at street cor¬ 
ners is the trolley wire and that carries at least 500 volts. If you should 
get the full force of the 500 volts, it would kill you. Often, above them 
all, are wires carrying power to run machines in factories. In a high 
wind a swaying branch of a shade tree may hit these wires and they may 
break or sag and touch the other wires; then the other wires receive a 
dangerous amount of electricity. 

An electric light wire in Cincinnati was broken a few weeks ago, 
during a storm. This wire carried 6,500 volts of electricity; a young 
lady passed by it and carelessly pushed it aside with her hand. She was 
instantly killed. 

In the Ohio penitentiary 1,700 volts are used in killing a murderer. 
In New York 1,200 volts are used. 

HOW AN ELECTRIC SHOCK FEELS. 

The Assistant Chief of the Fire Department of Trenton, N. J., had 
a narrow escape from being shocked to death by an electric wire. An 
overhead wire fell and struck him on the shoulder. In speaking of it 
he said: 

“The shock was terrible. First was a blow on the shoulder which 
knocked me down. It was heavy but did not hurt. When I struck the 
ground I could neither speak nor breathe. I felt that my whole body 
was being crushed and still there was no pain. I seemed to be sinking 
and still there was no pain. Then relief came suddenly and I was picked 
up by someone and carried out. I knew what was going on and yet I 
could not speak. In a few minutes I knew what had happened.” 

WHEN ONE IS STUNNED. 

When one is stunned by electricity from a dynamo, if he is still 
touching the metal or wire, it is 'very dangerous to the person who lifts 
him. The person who moves the wire must stand on a board or some 

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71 


dry clothing and touch the wire only with a stick of dry wood, dry rope • 
or a coat. 

In some cases the current can be stopped by lifting the stunned one 
from the earth. He should be lifted by his clothes. In other cases the 
dynamo at the other end of the line can be stopped. 

When he is away from the wire and a doctor is called dash water in 
his face and rub his spine with ice. .Give him no whisky or anything 
else to swallow. 

BRING THE STUNNED TO LIFE. 

The person stunned by electricity may live, if he is helped quickly 
by those who know what to do. The shock stiffens his muscles, and his 
heart, which is made of muscle, is too stiff to work. If nothing is done 
he will die. But if his lungs are made to fill with aii every few sec¬ 
onds, as in life, he may soon get well. 

Put a tightly-rolled coat or blanket under his neck and shoulders as 
he lies upon his back. This straightens his windpipe. With a hand¬ 
kerchief, to prevent it slipping, hold his tongue out of his mouth. This 
keeps the throat open. If his teeth are clinched, pry them open with a 
piece of wood. 

One person should stand behind his head and catch hold of both 
arms at the elbow. He should draw them backward over his head and 
pull on them long enough to say slowly “one hundred and one/’ Then 
the arms must be moved downward and the elbows pressed hard against 
the sides of the chest. Then say “one hundred and one” again. These 
motions must be made over and over again and if they are made regu¬ 
larly the stunned one will be forced to take 15 breaths each minute. This 
is the correct number. If there are several persons present, it is wise to 
have one for each arm and another to rub his legs hard. 

Continue the movements until the stunned one begins to use his nozv 
muscles to fill his chest with air. Continue working over him two hours, 
or more, if it takes that long to revive him. After he begins to breathe 
he should be kept still until his heart beats are strong. 


LESSON NO. 31. 


Fighting Fire in the Home. 

HOW WATER PUTS OUT A BUAZE. 

A fire in the home may mean a great loss. It may mean the loss of 
the building; of precious things that money could not buy, because they 
were gifts of dead or absent dear ones; it may mean the loss of the lives 
of loved ones or our own lives. Although a fire may cause great suffer¬ 
ing and bring great loss there as very few families who have anything 
with which to put out the flames. A ladder should be near at hand so 
that one can quickly carry water up to the roof to put out the fire which 
sparks may start in the shingles. A ladder is needed at a country school- 
house, for nearly all fires in these buildings start in the roof or attic. A 
ladder is often needed to save the lives of persons in the upper stories of 
burning buildings. The fire soon fills the stairway with smoke or flame 
and one cannot get out that way. A ladder can be made in a day or 
bought for three dollars. 


FIGHTING FIRE. 

In a farm-house kitchen there is usually a bucket of water for drink¬ 
ing or cooking. There should be another bucket always kept full of wa¬ 
ter to be used in putting out fires. “Fire buckets” are made with round¬ 
ing bottoms and will not stand alone but must be held up by a shelf with 
a hole in it, or hung on a nail. In winter salt is put in the water which 
fills the fire bucket; the water cannot freeze with salt in it. 

CARBONIC ACID GAS EXTINGUISHERS. 

The best thing to haVe in a house or store for putting out a fire is 
one of the metal cans, or tanks, known as “carbonic acid gas fire-extin¬ 
guishers.” You may have seen such a can in a big building or on a fire 
department wagon. One of them holds two bucketfuls of water and is 
three times as high as it is thick. At the top it has a piece of hose a 
yard long. 

When the extinguisher is to be used, it is turned upside down. The 
turning over spills an acid into a cup of baking soda. When they get 
together carbonic acid gas is formed. This gas presses so hard that the 
water and gas may be thrown through the hose to the top of a three- 

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FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


73 


story house. Many places in a house can be reached by a stream from 
an extinguisher when they could not be reached with a bucket of water. 

THE GAS. 

The gas carried by the water helps greatly in smothering the flame. 
If water carrying carbonic acid gas is thrown on a fire that is burning 
between a ceiling and the floor above it, or in some other place hard to 
reach, the blaze is smothered at once by lack of air. 

Each one of the three gallons of water in the can, takes out with it 
20 gallons of gas. This kind of an extinguisher is worth much more if 
it is used from above the blaze rather than below it, because this gas be¬ 
ing heavier than the air moves downward. 

Firemen have carbonic acid tanks which hold as much as a barrel. 
They use them where the fire is blazing in only one or two rooms. 

If there is carbonic acid gas in the water it takes less of it, so there 
is not so much loss from wetting things. 

Perhaps you have seen pretty metal tubes marked “dry powder ex¬ 
tinguisher.” They have in them baking soda to throw on a fire. Fire¬ 
men think they are of little use. 

HOW WATER PUTS OUT FIRE. 

Any substance must be made hot before it will take fire. When the 
heat in it is great enough to loosen the atoms of carbon in it, to that 
they will join atoms of oxygen in the air, there is a blaze. Anything 
that will cool the burning substance so that there is no longer heat enough 
to turn loose the carbon atoms, will put out the fire. 

Water will cool burning material better than anything else can cool 
it. It cools the red hot coals and so stops the fire. Water used freely 
keeps away from the burning substance the air in which is the oxygen 
that is needed to make a flame. Water thrown on a fire is changed to 
steam and that change draws the heat away. 

A little water on a mass of hot coals is changed to carbon mon- 
oxid gas, which makes a hot flame and may explode. We learned this 
in the lesson on gas lights. 


LESSON NO. 32 . 

What to Do 

IF IN A BURNING BUILDING. 

When you see a fire starting in the house, try to “keep cool.” If 
you know before hand-what to do when a fire is started, you may keep 
cool enough to do it. 

If the blaze is just starting, throw water on the thing that is burn- 
ing not at the blaze. One bucket of water will do more good if 
thrown on a little at a time, than if it is dashed on all at once. 

A small fire may be smothered with a rug or blanket, or beaten out 
with a wet broom. 

If you cannot put out the fire in a minute, yell “Fire,” and then call 
the fire department, if there is one. Every city has a fire department. 
Everyone living in the house-should know the telephone number to use, 
when the fire department is wanted. The number should be on the wall' 
by the telephone, so that strangers will know what number to call. There 
is no time to look in the directory, after a fire starts, and most people 
would be too nervous then to find the right number. Everyone should 
know where the nearest fire-alarm box is, and how to use it. 

Do not leave a door open when you go out to give the alarm. If the 
doors and windows of a room are closed when a fire starts in it, one 
can always get the firemen there in time to keep the flames from spread¬ 
ing to another room. The fire soon uses all the oxygen in a room that 
is closed, and it may die out if it gets no fresh air. 


TURNING IN AN ALARM. 

The fire alarm box in the street is quicker and surer than the tele¬ 
phone. 

Nearly all fire alarms are worked by a hook. Before pulling the hook 
in this kind of a box, one must open the door. In nearly all boxes this 
is done with a key. If the key is kept in a building near by, there is a 
sign that shows which building. In other boxes the key can be seen be¬ 
hind a piece of thin glass in the door. One can get it quickly by break¬ 
ing the glass with a stick, stone, or knife-handle. The broken glass falls 
out of the way. 

After the door is unlocked, pull the hook down as far as it will move 
and then let go. That is all. This makes a gong at the engine house 

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kOR primary schools. % 

sound the number four times so that the firemen may be sure of the 
count. 

After turning in the alarm go to the burning building to see what 
you can save. Do not go into an upper story when the fire is in a lower 
one because the heat and smoke go up. 

WHILE THE FIREMEN ARE COMING. 

When you have called the firemen try to get out the things you want 
most to save. Don’t throw the clock from the window and carry out 
your clothing. Some excited persons have done that. 

If the smell of fire wakes you at night, do not dress. Wrap your¬ 
self in a blanket or quilt and get out the quickest way you can. Shut 
the doors when you have passed through them. After calling for help 
look in and see where and what is the danger. You can then tell if it 
is best to try to carry out the household goods. 

The smoke is thickest at the ceiling. One can often get through a 
place filled with smoke by going on the hands and knees when he would 
fall choking if he ran. Holding a wet towel or something made of flan¬ 
nel, or even a coat collar over the mouth is a wise thing to do. It keeps 
one from breathing into the lungs the choking hot smoke. 

CAUGHT IN A BURNING BUILDING. 

Most fires start at the first floor or basement of the building and 
burn a hole up through the roof. In a house the flames travel by the 
stairway; in a big store or hotel they go quickly up the elevator shaft. 
After reaching the top the fire spreads and slowly goes down burning 
the wood that is left. 

If one is in a burning building with no fire escapes and the stairs 
below are burning or the hall is filled with choking smoke, he should shut 
the door and transom to keep out the deadly smoke. Then he should 
throw open the window to get cool air and to let the firemen and neigh¬ 
bors see where he is so that they may bring a ladder to the window. 

One should wait at the window for help until he is scorched or 
choking. By that time the firemen will be holding a big hoop covered 
with canvas in which they will catch him when he jumps. 

Perhaps the neighbors will hold a blanket to catch him, when he 
leaps. If no one is near, he should throw out the bedding, tick and all, 
and jump on that. It is safer to jump into the top of a tree than to the 
ground. 


LESSON NO. 33. 

First Aid to the Burned 

AND INJURED IN BURNING BUILDINGS. 

Every year more than six thousand people are burned to death in 
the United States. 

A burn of the first degree (a slight burn) hurts only the outside of 
the skin. The burned place is red, painfully hot, and tender. When it 
gets well the outside layer of skin peels off. This outside layer of the 
skin is made of scales like those of a fish, but very much smaller. 

To stop the pain from such a burn the air must be kept away from 
it. Stir a teaspoonful of baking soda into a pint of water and wet lint 
or cotton with it. Then put the wet lint or cotton over the burn and hold 
it in place by a bandage. If there is no soda use sweet oil or molasses. 
Many mothers use scrapings from a potato. Send for a doctor, if a 
burn of this kind is a large one covering much of the body. While wait¬ 
ing for the doctor the burn should be wrapped in cotton or covered with 
flour. A large burn that does not even blister the skin may cause one to 
die from shock and pain. Big burns that are not deep often come from 
gas and gasolene explosions in which the heat only lasts a moment. 

BLISTERS. 

In burns of the second degree there are blisters. Blisters are made 
by water from the blood being poured out to cool the burn. The skin 
over the blister should not be taken away, but the water should be let 
out of it by a needle prick at the edge. The clothing should be taken 
off carefully so that the blisters will not be broken. 

Over burns of this kind, place soft, clean rags or cotton dipped in 
carron oil. Carron oil can be bought at any drug store. If you cannot 
get the carron oil immediately, smear cloths with tallow and bandage 
them over the burned place. 

Burns of the third degree (the deep burns) take the life out of all 
layers of the skin. These burns make the skin hard like stiff paper. The 
dead skin and flesh is gotten rid of by matter forming under it. Deep 
burns often leave the joints stiff and they always leave bad scars. Any 
deep burn should have a doctor’s care at once. Until he comes, wrap 
the burned one in a blanket or place him in a bath-tub of warm water. 

Most of the deep burns are suffered by persons whose clothing 

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FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


77 


takes fire. This is because the clothing keeps the flame so long against 
the skin. Children whose clothes take fire are usually burned to death. 

SCALDS. 

Scalds are burns from very hot water. They are not likely to be 
deep because the water runs off quickly. The thicker the fluid the deeper 
the scald. Children are in the greatest danger when they are burned or 
scalded on the chest. 

Water will scald long before it gets as hot as flame. Water heated 
to 130 degrees is as painful to the hands as the blaze from a match which 
is 600 to i,ioo degrees. 

A red coal has a heat of at least 90 degrees. Iron begins to burn 
red at 1,000 degrees and the blacksmith heats it to more than 1,800 de¬ 
grees to hammer it out. The flame in a kerosene lamp is 1,400 degrees 
or more. 

CLOTHES AFIRE. 

Do not run or scream when your clothing is afire. Running fans 
the flames and screaming makes you breathe deeply and draw the heat of 
the flame to the chest. 

Wrap yourself in some woolen or heavy material and roll on the 
floor. Take something near you— a coat, shawl, rug, lounge-cover or 
portiere. If you see any one afire wrap him and roll him in this way. 
If he will not lie down he must be thrown down; the blaze can best be 
put out by rolling him and he can be kept from breathing flame if down. 

Note. _In connection with this lesson the Fahrenheit thermometer should 

be shown. 


LESSON NO. 34. 

Things Made from Celluloid. 

MOVING PICTURE SHOWS. 

There are few houses that do not contain something made of cellu¬ 
loid and celluloid can easily be set afire. 

Nearly all the pretty, but cheap, combs are made of celluloid. The 
following articles are made of it: Brushes of many kinds, manicure 
sets, cuff, handkerchief, soap and powder-puff boxes, trays, knife- 
handles, piano-keys, baskets, corsets, book backs, playing-cards, baby 
rattles and eye-shades. Any of these may be set afire by the heat from a 
gas jet, kerosene lamp, or electric light. A hot curling iron or the flame 
from a match will fire any thin piece of celluloid. 

Different makers of this material give it different names; it all burns 
easily, no matter what it is called. Beautiful cloth and imitation leather 
is made by spreading celluloid on cotton cloth and passing it through 
rollers. 

To make celluloid, shreds of cotton or of tissue paper are soaked 
with nitric acid, and then made into a soft mass by adding camphor. 
The dye stuff to make it look like amber, ivory, or tortoise-shell is then 
put into it. This mass is rolled in sheets and heated while under hun¬ 
dreds of tons of weight. This makes it hard. If nitric acid were used 
longer, the mass would be smokeless powder which is used in cannon. 

Celluloid can be cut or sawed, and, if warmed, can be bent or pressed 
into any shape. 

IT MAY EXPLODE. 

Celluloid always takes fire with a flash and burns quickly making a 
great heat. This is because it has oxygen within it, just as gun powder 
has and the oxygen helps it burn. It does not need to get much oxygen 
from the air around it. 

If celluloid is heated slowly, it gives off a gas. This gas mixes with 
the air and makes an explosive just as gasolene vapor does. This vapor 
is more dangerous than the vapor of gasolene because it may take fire 
itself. Gasolene vapor will not explode unless it is touched by a flame or 
spark, a coal or hot iron. 

Several men have' been badly burned by having the celluloid collars 
they were wearing take fire from matches or cigars. How dangerous it 
must be to wear an eye-shade made of this stuff! A careful mother will 
never let her baby play with a rattle made of celluloid! 

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FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


79 


FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 

A boy of three let a celluloid side-comb touch the side of a gas 
stove and his hand is crippled for life. 

Some celluloid combs in a store in Marengo took fire from a kero¬ 
sene lamp placed two feet below them. The place was set afire. 

A girl near Cincinnati was stopping to tie her shoe in front of a 
grate. A comb in her hair took fire. The burn from this left a scarred 
bald spot as big as a silver dollar. 

MOVING PICTURES. 

The pictures used in a moving-picture machine are photographed on 
long ribbons made of celluloid. This ribbon may be fired by heat, sparks 
or the lamp placed behind it. 

If a whole show is on one ribbon, the ribbon is more than a quarter 
of a mile long. It is one and three-eighths inches wide and one two- 
hundredths of an inch thick. 

The ribbon is wound from one spool to another, while a bright light 
passes through it, throwing the picture upon the muslin stretched across 
the stage. If the ribbon stops moving for an instant, the heat from the 
light sets it afire with a flash and the blaze runs quickly to the mass of 
celluloid on the spools. A spark from the electric light may fire the rib¬ 
bon. More fires have come from sparks than from heat firing the ribbon. 

RIBBONS OFTEN FLASH. 

The buildings are not likely to burn, because the picture machines are 
in iron booths. But the flash of the burning celluloid sometimes 
frightens the people in the theater so that they crush and trample one 
another in rushing out. This fright is made worse, usually, by the fact 
that the burning celluloid which makes a thick smoke is close to the 
only door. > 

The man working the machine is likely to be badly burned. In 
Lockport, N. Y., the operator of a machine was burned to death in the 
booth. In Cleveland, Ohio, an operator, frightened by an explosion, 
jufnped from a window and was killed. 


LESSON NO. 35- 
Barns and Stables. 

SMOKEHOUSES AND KETTLES. 

A farmer’s barn is likely to burn down when a fire is started in it, 
because there is no fire department to call, and no mother is there to 
empty the water pail on it. 

Sweating hay is the greatest cause of this loss, for it produces spon¬ 
taneous combustion and draws lightning. 

Why does hay sweat ? The cells in the grass make hay go on living 
and breathing for some time after the grass is cut. This makes heat. 
The seeds in the grass begin to sprout, and tiny germs in the blades live 
for several weeks in the hay-mow. These three causes make a great 
heat, and, if the mow is full, there is little air to carry heat away. The 
center of the hay pile becomes as hot as boiling water. 

THE STEAM FROM HAY. 

This great heat makes the juice in the grass give off steam. Above 
every mow, in which there is new hay, there is a funnel shaped cloud of 
steam. It is much easier for lightning to spill down this funnel of moist 
air than to go through dry air, to reach the earth. 

The new hay, in the center of the mow, after becoming as hot as 
boiling water, begins to char. The charcoal sucks oxygen from the lit¬ 
tle air left, and is then so hot that it bursts into flame. Shredded fodder 
sometimes sets itself afire. 

Whether it is lightning or spontaneous combustion that fires the hay, 
the whole barn seems to take fire at once. In such fires the machinery, 
horses, and cattle within the barn are likely to be burned. 

LIGHTNING AND MATCHES. 

Lightning burns more than one-fourth the barns destroyed by fire. 
To save them from lightning they should have lightning-rods to carry 
the thunderbolt down, outside the barn wall, to the ground. 

Carelessness with matches burns many barns and stables. Matches 
are stuck in cracks, in hat bands, or in anything that is handy, and then 
the farmer, or hostler (or it may be the horse, or cow) steps on one of, 
them and sets it off. The litter on the floor blazes, and the barn burns. 

Lanterns are the most dangerous things used in barns; they are often 
broken, or upset. 


( 80 ) 


P'Ok PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


8l 


' SMOKING IN THE BARN. 

Sometimes a half smoked cigar rolls off from the place in the barn 
where it was carelessly laid, and starts a fire in hay or straw. Boys who 
are foolish enough to smoke cigarettes often hide in barns, and set them 
afire with cigarette stubs or matches. 

Sleepy hostlers start fires in livery stables, while caring for horses 
brought in at night. 

If the oils used in greasing harness and axles are spilled upon stable 
litter, they are likely to take fire. 

OTHER CAUSES. 

The use of gasolene in barns and stables starts some barn fires, 
though more are started by sparks from railway engines and steam 
threshing machines. Many more are started by children, playing with 
the fire, or matches, or burning rubbish. 

About twenty smoke-houses are burned each year, because people do 
not watch the fires in them. Six buildings are burned each fall by smoke- 
ing meat in barrels or boxes. 

Thousands of dollars worth of property is burned each year, because 
kettles of grease, pitch, or paint are allowed to “boil over.” 

RATS AND MICE. 

The rat causes a few fires, by eating matches. His eye teeth, two 
above and two below, are long, so that he can gnaw holes to get into 
boxes and rooms. The front and side of these teeth is hard enough to 
cut iron, but the back of them is softer. The teeth, by wearing away at 
the back, leave an edge like a chisel. The eye teeth grow during all of 
the rat’s life. If they are not used much, he must file them off by bit¬ 
ing something hard, or they will grow so long that he cannot shut his 
mouth. Because the parlor match has glass in it, he files his teeth on 
that. Sometimes he files them off with lead pipe or electric wire. Rats 
like, the taste of the phosphorus that is in the match heads. When they 
nibble these match heads, they may set their nests afire, and then the 
buildings are burned. 

Mice may cause a very few fires. Nibbling near the heads of the 
matches, they may explode them. The rats and mice like to build their 
homes in warm corners, where sparks from chimneys may light the 
fine litter of which their nests are made. 


6 * 


LESSON NO. 36. 

Smokers and Rubbish; 

THE VALUE OF BUILDINGS THEY BURN. 

Smokers set fire to about 2,000 buildings a year by carelessness in 
throwing away their cigar stubs and emptying their pipes. As man)' 
more buildings are burned by their carelessness with matches. Fires are 
started by cigar and cigarette stubs dropped upon heaps of rubbish, 01 
thrown into wooden spittoons or waste-paper baskets. 

A number of fires started in barns soon after men who had been 
smoking left them. A great fire was started by the driver of a delivery 
wagon who threw a cigar stub over a fence into a pile of trash. Careless 
smokers start many fires in wood-sheds and in new buildings. 

PIPES AND CIGARETTES. 

Burning tobacco from a pipe is more likely to set fire to litter, trash 
or rubbish than is a cigar stub. A cigarette is. worse than the glowing 
tobacco from a pipe. A turkish cigarette, if let alone, will burn for five 
minutes after it is lighted. One of them is sure to start a fire if dropped 
upon waste paper. 

A cigar stub was dropped upon the dress of a lady sitting in the 
grand-stand at the state fair. Her dress was soon in flames, but an as¬ 
sistant state fire marchal tore it ofif and saved her life. 

A cigarette stub set fire to the dress of a lady who was standing in 
the street. She was burned to death. 

RUBBISH CATCHES FIRE. 

Twenty million dollars a year would not pay the losses caused in the 
United States from letting rubbish and trash gather in buildings. A 
great many fires caused by flying sparks would not have happened if 
there had been no trash for them to light upon and burn. When chil¬ 
dren play with matches and fire-crackers and drop them it is the rubbish 
lying around that spreads the flames. Old paper is usually found in rub¬ 
bish heaps and it takes fire very easily. 

THE ATTIC. 


All sorts of things that will burn easily are put away in the attic. 
The attic, or garret, is the hottest place in the house in summer. Few 
attics have openings to let out the heat. Varnished furniture, rags 

( 82 ) 


For primary schools. 


83 


smeared with grease, painting oils and children’s broken toys are stored 
in the attic. When the hot sun beats on the roof, the oils and greasy 
rags are liable to take fire from the heat. 

A mother went to the attic to get her husband’s old suit to cut down 
for her little son. She found a hole burned in the coat by matches which 
had been lighted by the heat. Some charred match-sticks were there to 
prove it. If the coat had been near anything that would burn easily, the 
house would have been fired. 

Attics and garrets should have openings in both ends so movements 
of air will carry away the heat made by the chimneys and by the sun beat¬ 
ing upon the roof. 

The stove is the only safe place for £teasy rags; this includes rags 
which have been used to wipe oil from the sewing machine. 

Rubbish should not be kept in boxes made of wood or pasteboard. 

CLOSETS. 

Sweepings from the floor should not be left under furniture or in 
closets. Such sweepings are liable to take fire “spontaneously,” or from 
a flying match-head. Sawdust left in a corner after sweeping is very 
likely to become hot enough to fire itself. Greasy overalls in a tight 
closet may take fire. 

Many people put things that will burn easily in closets under stair¬ 
ways. If fires start in such closets the way out of the upper stories is 
soon cut off. 

Furnace ashes in the cellar have so much fine coal and litter in them 
that they are liable to spontaneous combustion, if rained upon through 
an open window. 

THE FIRE MARSHAL’S DUTIES. 

The state fire marshal is named by the governor and he has an office 
in the state house. 

The truth about every fire (in the state) which burns goods or a 
building is told him in a letter. If he thinks that the man who owned 
the building burned it to get insurance money, or that some one fired it 
because he was “mad” at the owner, or that it was set afire by some crazy 
person, he directs one of the men who work for him to learn the whole 
truth and have the guilty person arrested. 

A crazy person who is found guilty of burning a building is sent to 
a state hospital for the insane. One who burns property to get insur¬ 
ance money, or because he is angry at the owner, is sent to the peniten¬ 
tiary. 


LESSON NO. 3 f. 

The Lightning Stroke; 

WHAT CAUSES THUNDER STORMS. 

The thunder storm usually begins to form in the morning of a hot 
day. The damp air near the ground has in it very, very small drops of 
water. When they grow large enough they make a fog. This damp 
air, when warmed by the sunshine of the earth, grows lighter and floats 
up into the sky. There the cooler air moving about causes several of 
these tiny drops to get together to form a larger one. These drops float¬ 
ing in the sky make the clouds. Masses of white clouds seen on a sunny 
day are called “thunder heads.” A cloud is often as thick as it is wide. 
One traveling through a cloud, as one may near the top of a mountain, 
sees only a heavy fog. 

The tiny drops rubbed by the air, gather electricity just as the cat’s 
back, or a piece of sealing-wax does when rubbed. So, every cloud has 
electricity in it. As the amount of electricity grows greater the cloud 
grows blacker. When the cloud is thick enough to shut out the sun 
cooler air causes the tiny drops to “cuddle up” and form larger and larger 
drops. Soon these drops get too heavy for the wind to carry and they 
fall, making rain. You have often noticed a rush of cool wind just be¬ 
fore a hard rain. 

ELECTRICITY IN THE SKY. 

When the amount of electricity in a cloud becomes much greater 
than that in the earth, or in another cloud near it, part of it will be drawn 
off. Electricity when it jumps is the thunderbolt which makes lightning. 
What we see is the streak of air made red hot by the passing of the 
thunderbolt. There are many more lightning flashes from one cloud to 
another than from a cloud to the ground. The flashes between clouds 
are often several miles long; from the cloud to the ground they are one 
to three miles. One lightning stroke in about one-hundred travel from 
the earth to the cloud. 

The jumping of electricity from the feed-wire of a street car to the 
trolley wheel, makes a flash which is the same as lightning. One often 
thinks he can tell by the flash where a thunderbolt started and where 
it struck. He cannot. The flash travels sixty thousand miles a second 
and that is too fast for one’s eye to follow. If the flash was forked you 
may be sure it struck at the forked end. 

There is always some electricity in the air, the amount being largest 
high in the sky. A Russian has run a machine with electricity brought 

( 84 ) 


FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


85 


down by wires from balloons. A German has figured out how much the 
electricity in a lightning stroke would be worth to sell, if he should make 
a machine to catch one. These gentlemen must agree with the poet 
Emerson who wrote: 

“The lightning has run masterless too long; 

He must to school ^nd learn his verb and noun, 

And teach his nimbleness to earn his wage.” 

We now use thunderbolts to pull us in cars and to light our houses. 
But they are man-made in the dynamo ; not cloud-made in the sky. 

In learning to control strong currents of electricity from the dynamo 
we have also learned that we can keep lightning strokes from burning our 
houses, by putting over each house a thick rod of steel or copper, called a 
lightning rod. 

THUNDER. 


What makes the thunder? 

When a bolt of lightning rushes to the earth it causes waves in the 
air, which makes sounds in our ears, just as piano wires, when struck, 
move up and down making waves in air which we hear as music. 

Thunder is said to “roll.” This is because several bolts of elec¬ 
tricity fall one after another; sometimes as many as forty in less than a 
second. The first bolt makes a hole through the air down which the 
others quickly fall. Each bolt adds a noise. 

You have often dodged from a thunder clap. This is useless. The 
danger is passed before you hear of it. One struck by lightning knows 
nothing about it at the time. 

The waves which make sound do not travel so fast as those that 
give sight. If lightning strikes one mile away it is five seconds before 
the thunder is heard. If you hold a watch so as to count the seconds, 
you can tell jiist how far it is to where the lightning struck. 

Electricity moving through the air forms a nitrate which makes the 
ground richer. Ozone is also formed. Ozone makes us feel fresh after 
a thunder storm. Some folks say thunder sours milk. It is the ozone 
that sours it. The air is always fine after a storm because it has been 
washed. Fine particles of soot and dust carrying disease germs, and 
the gases from smoke floating in the air, are taken to the ground by the 

million of rain drops. 

Few storms travel more than ioo miles. 

In the Northern states the number of thunderstorms one sees in a 
summer is always about 30, but the number of persons killed and houses 
burned by lightning grows greater every year. One reason for this is 
that the forest trees, which are nature’s lightning rods, are being cut 
down. 


LESSON NO. 38. 


Protection from Thunderbolts. 

THE USE OF THE LIGHTNING ROD. 

In some states as much as three hundred thousand dollar’s worth of 
property is burned by lightning every year and fifty persons are killed 
by it. If these persons were made to breathe, in the way you have learned 
in one of your lessons, many of them would not die. The number of 
people stunned by lightning, in these states every summer, is about 300. 
On the farms more fires are caused by lightning than by anything else. 

One building in every three struck by lightning is in a town or 
city. Few of the high buildings in cities are struck, because electricity 
can move easily through the water pipes, gas pipes, or metal frames of 
the buildings. 

Lightning strikes more houses than barns. Barns having new hay 
in them are most likely to be struck. This is because the hay is “sweat¬ 
ing,” as the farmers say, and warm, moist air is rising from the barn to 
the clouds, just as moist air heated by the sun goes up to make a thunder¬ 
cloud. Moisture in air makes it easier for electricity to pass through it. 

DODGING THUNDERBOLTS. 

During a thunderstorm do not stand under a tree. The danger is 
greatest under a tall tree having big leaves and a rough bark like the oak. 
The beech tree with its smooth bark and pointed leaves, is less dangerous. 
Do not stay near wet horses or cattle. The steam rising from rain-wet 
animals makes a weak place for electricity from the clouds to break 
through the air. One is in less danger from being killed by lightning in 
a house than in a barn. 

It is not dangerous to hold a hatchet or pair of scissors, or to be 
near a gas or water pipe during a storm. When you hear that it is 
dangerous, remember that pieces of iron or steel which do not reach the 
ground, but have air all around them, are no more likely to be struck 
by lightning than that much wood. Houses having gas and water pipes 
in them are not so likely to be struck as those that have none. It is 
foolish to say one is safe under a feather-bed or in an iron bed-stead. 

Stay near the center of a room during a thunderstorm; lightning 
is likely to' run down the rain-wet sides of the house. Do not stand 
in an open door. 

A lightning rod over a house or barn carries the thunderbolt down 
QUtside to the ground so that it kills no one and nothing is set afire, 

( 86 ) 


FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


87 


WHAT IS A LIGHTNING ROD? 

A lightning rod is a piece of steel or copper which runs over the 
building the long way. Both of its ends are buried in the ground. The 
ends must reach down to earth that is kept moist by the water which 
fills our wells. It is the water in the ground which the lightning jumps 
from the clouds to reach. If the rod does not go down to wet earth, it 
is of no use, but it is not dangerous. Standing up from the rod art 
pieces of wire about a yard long. At the top of each of these pieces are 
sharp prongs made of some metal which will stay bright. The more 
prongs the better. A piece of rod should stand near each chimney. The 
chimney of the cook stove needs one most for from that chimney moist 
air rises on summer days when there are the most lightning strokes. 

There is danger from lightning striking tall trees that send out 
their branches over our homes. The lightning may come from a tree 
to the chimney or down the side of the house. A wire clothes-line should 
not be run from a tree to the house. One summer a farmer’s wife was 
hanging clothes on a line put up in this way, when a thunderbolt struck 
the tree, came along the wire and through her to the ground. She fell 
dead. The wire from the tree to where she stood was converted to gas. 

Lightning does many strange things. It may pass down through a 
house, pulling out nails but not setting the house afire. Persons killed 
by lightning while sitting are left so stiffened that they do not fall 
over. When lightning strikes a man it is likely to tear off his shoes 
because it spreads with an explosion when it reaches the ground. 


LESSON NO. 39. 


The Less Dangerous Fireworks, 

WHICH BURN BUT SELDOM KILL. 

Many fireworks used on the Fourth of July are dangerous; they 
are likely to kill those who use - them. The Fourth of July keeps the 
firemen busy because fireworks set so^ many buildings afire. 

Before the Fourth comes all trash in the yards should be taken away 
or kept wet. Stables and outhouses should be kept closed and cellar 
windows tightly shut. 

On every Fourth more than 600 buildings are fired and more than 
200 persons killed by fireworks. Children are burned to death by the fire¬ 
works setting their clothes afire and people are killed by frightened horses 
running away. On every Fourth more than 2,000 children lose fingers 
or eyes. 

Red fire and torches hurt no one and the pinwheel does little harm 
because it is fastened to a tree or fence. 

TORPEDOES AND CHINESE CRACKERS. 

A common torpedo has in it a wafer, like a toy pistol cap, holding 
chlorate of potash. On this are a number of pieces of gravel. When a 
torpedo strikes anything the blow from the gravel explodes the chlorate. 
The larger and more dangerous torpedoes contain chlorate and two other 
dangerous things. 

A boy lost three fingers by trying to drive a nail through a street¬ 
car torpedo. These torpedoes are made of chlorate and sulphur with 
ground glass or sand. One maker puts in them a fulminate which is 
very dangerous. 

The small Chinese firecracker burns more houses than any other 
kind of fire works. The paper on the Chinese firecracker glows for some 
time after it explodes and one of them thrown into trash or through a 
window is likely to start a fire. These crackers are made of rolls of 
paper with a cork of mud in each end and common gunpowder is placed 
in the rolls. It is cheaper to buy crackers that are made in China than 
to make them here, because Chinamen work for very little pay. 

THE ROMAN CANDLE. 

If the Roman candle is well made it is not likely to injure any one. 
Jf if is exploded in the street, it will not fire houses. If the “stars” in the 

/as; 


FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


89 


candle are packed too tightly, it may come out at the wrong end and 
hurt your hand. The man who makes roman candles puts the lower 
end of one in an iron socket when he wishes to see it go off. The best 
kind of these candles has at the lower end a pointed stick which can be 
stuck in the ground. Many of the flower pots and fountains are very 
beautiful and only those that whistle are dangerous. The whistling kind 
should not be used. 

The hot air balloon kills no one but it fires many houses. The 
torch ruder it gives off a hot blaze for more than ten minutes and is 
sure to set afire any shingle roof upon which it falls. 

THE SKY-ROCKET. 

Sky-rockets, if aimed high in the air, burn few buildings because 
the falling stick is seldom afire. In Pittsburg a falling stick struck a 
baby’s head, killing it in its mother’s arms. 

Place a sky-rocket in a V-shaped trough when you set it off. Firing 
it any other way may cause it to go through a window or a person. A 
common-sized rocket will go through the body of a man. A flying 
rocket will make a hole through the heaviest plate-glass window. 

The sparks from a German sparkler will not burn the skin because 
they cool too quickly. But one of these sparks will ignite the fuse of any 
other fire work. A spark from one of them lighted a rocket in a pile of 
fire works in a Cleveland store causing death to six persons. 

HOPPERS AND CHASERS. 

The “grass-hoppers” and “devil chasers,” which travel along the 
ground while exploding are likely to pop into rubbish piles or cellar 
windows and start a fire. 

A new firework called “son-of-a-gun” is like a lozenge an inch 
across. If stepped on it makes more than twenty snap explosions. It 
may be great fun to place them where people may step upon them but 
it is not so funny when a lady steps on one and has her dress burned — 
perhaps is burned to death! They are likely to jump into a window or 
into trash, or clothing, or one’s eyes. 

More children are burned to death by small crackers than by any 
other kind of firework. The small crackers set their clothing afire. The 
prettiest fireworks are the least dangerous and fireworks which go up in 
the air are safer than those that are exploded near the earth. 


LESSON NO. 40. 


Deadly Fireworks 

WHICH SHOULD NOT BE USED AT ALL. 

The toy cannon is a great joy to a boy but it kills many children. 
By kicking it hurts tho one firing it and by bursting it causes death. 

The toy balloon does not hurt the one who sends it up, but under it 
is a torch of shavings and rosin and this blazes for nine minutes and 
makes the gas which raises the balloon. If the paper of the balloon 
takes fire from the torch then the torch (still burning) will fall, it 
may drop on a roof of wood and set the building afire. In Dayton, Ohio, 
five buildings were set afire in one day by fire balloons. 

Anything which explodes with greater force than gunpowder is 
called a “high explosive.” Chlorate is a high explosive. The very 
dangerous fireworks contain a mixture of chlorate of potash, sulphur and 
charcoal. This is the chlorate of potash so much used for sore throats. 
Not long ago a man put a lozenge of it in a pocket in which were 
matches. It made a hole in his vest and burned him, too. 

SHOOTING CANES. 

0 

The shooting cane has an iron boot. In the leg of this boot are 
placed lozenges that explode when the end of the cane is struck against 
the pavement. One explodes each time the cane is struck. These 
dangerous explosives are made of chlorate of potash and sulphur mixea 
with sand, powdered glass or coal and they are held together by a little 
gum. One’s foot is likely to be hurt when a lozenge explodes and hall 
a dozen may explode at once, tearing off a leg. 

A German toy called “fix rohr” has in it the same explosive that is 
used in the shooting cane. The explosive is in the small end of a cork 
which fits into one end of a brass tube. A rod, or plunger, is driven into 
the cork and it flies out with great force and noise. Three men in 
Boston were killed when a box of these corks exploded on a wharf. The 
floor timbers were torn out. 

Bombs should not be sold at all. 

THE CANNON CRACKER. 

The cannon cracker is a murderer. One went off in a boy’s hands 
and the only part of either hand that could be found afterward was one 

( 90 ) 


FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 


91 


little finger. In Cincinnati one went off while a man held it under his 
arm. He was torn in pieces and no one could tell who he was, until 
they dug his watch out of a telegraph pole into which it was blown. 
They found his name in the watch. 

Sometimes the lighted fuse in a cannon cracker goes out. Such a 
cracker should be let alone for ten minutes, then it must be soaked well 
in water and buried. 

LOCK JAW. 

Lockjaw is caused by one of the smallest of germs. The germ is 
like a very short thread and is so small it cannot be seen. It grows by 
the million in the bowels of horses. There always are millions of them 
in the street dust. The germ dries up when it comes into the air; it does 
no harm so long as there is air around it. The germs remain alive in ice 
or in boiling water. Doctors have kept them on splinters for ten years 
and then given lockjaw to mice by pricking them with the splinters. 
When they get into One’s flesh, away from the air, they grow in numbers 
very fast, because each germ chokes itself in two in the middle. One 
of these germs will have grand-children within an hour. While they are 
growing in numbers, under the skin, they give out a poisonous juice. It 
is a week or two after the germs have begun work before one can tell 
that they are there. One does not know they are working until the 
poison has had time to travel along a nerve from the wound to the spine 
and brain. 

A HORRIBLE DEATH. 

When this poison reaches the brain death is sure to follow, after 
days of horrible suffering. The suffering that lockjaw brings is more 
terrible than that caused by strychnine poisoning and a mad dog bite put 
together. 

Any small wound made by fireworks should be taken at once to a 
doctor, who will lay the wound open so that air can get to the very 
bottom of it. This is necessary because a boy playing with fireworks 
nearly always has street dust on his hands and the street dust carries 
these terrible germs. 

More than one hundred boys die from wounds made by fireworks 
on every Fourth. Sometimes more than three hundred boys die from 
such wounds. 

The most deadly thing used on the Fourth is the toy pistol for firing 
blank cartridges. Pieces of the paper wads, which take the place of balls 
in these cartridges, are blown under the skin, These pieces carry the 
germs of lockjaw, 





























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